Best Tomatoes That Fruit in Mild Cold & Top Veggies at this SoCal Nursery

Alright! This is John Kohler with growingyourgreens.com. Today we have another exciting episode for you here in Southern California at my favorite wholesale plant nursery here in Norwalk, California. It's actually certified plant growers at 10524 East Firestone Boulevard 5628649448. Now what you guys don't understand is even though I live in Las Vegas, I'll make hopefully monthly trips out to Southern California where I buy wholesale produce as well as wholesale plants. I find that the plants I buy here, literally grower direct, are a lot higher quality and a lot less expensive than buying plants in Las Vegas. That being said, if you guys live in Southern California, right, I visited many retail nurseries in Southern California. Many of them actually buy plants from CPG and will then mark them up 100%, you know, and then charge you guys more money. Like these days I think six packs go for $5 or even more, whereas you can literally save half the money by coming to CPG, buying grower direct, getting higher quality plants, plants you won't even find in some of the nurseries, and that's why I come here, honestly, guys. Saves money. High quality plants. And the other thing is they have a super huge selection, so you guys get to select out the exact plant you want with the right amount of fruit growth, whether large or small. So that's what I'm going to do with you guys today. We're going to take you guys into CPG and show you guys around. There are new owners since the time I originally made my video at CPG many years ago, links down below to that original video, and all I can say is that the new owner is really taking this nursery up a notch. He's throwing things out on sale, he's growing even more varieties of new crops. I've actually worked directly with him to give him cuttings and things of plants so that he could get them growing and make those available to you guys. So I'm really happy that, you know, he's here to help you guys out, to get you guys all your plant starts every single season, and even in between seasons. So let's head inside CPG and check it out. Alright, so I wanted to share with you guys the hours real quick because this is literally wholesale. They'll sell to nurseries that give them a call up and even deliver it to them, right. If you're a retail customer, they have hours for the wholesale business. So you're going to have to maybe get up a little bit early, you know, don't try to come after work because they will be closed. Their hours are Monday through Thursday, 7am to 4pm. On Fridays they like to take off a little bit earlier, they're working 7am to 3.30pm. Saturdays are open 7am to noon, and Sunday they are closed. Now here's the thing, guys, if you guys come here, don't try to come, oh, they closed at 4, I can get there at 3.30, I'm going to be good. You're not going to be good, unless you know exactly what you want. The issue with CPGs at this place is massive, and when I come here, it's like I'm at Disneyland, which is down the street actually, I drove by it today. Not really Disneyland, but you guys don't understand that they have plants in all different areas, so actually you're going to be walking around the nursery and kind of checking things out and seeing what plants are where, checking out the plants and finding the plants specifically you want. When I come here, I don't just necessarily have a shopping list, I just want to see what's the healthiest and what is the best plants that are going to grow for me in my garden at that time of year, whether I'm growing, you know, like a fall or a summer crop. So let's head inside and show you guys what they got for sale right now here in September, and actually this happens to be the September day in Southern California, where it's 105 degrees, it's even hotter than in Las Vegas today. Alright, one of the things they did was they redid this blacktop so it looks really nice when you're driving in, and what you're going to do is you're just going to go find a parking spot in one of the areas, and you could get out and just start walking around. In general, when you get here, they have a few different areas, the areas by the front where the street is, that's where they have the herbs and 4 inch pots, you guys can see all in front of me there, those are all brand new vegetable seedlings that they have coming up and color plants for flowers, if you want to have flowers, I only do the edibles. Over there they have another big section of vegetables and usually against all those hoop houses there, in the hoop houses they have a lot of vegetables starting which are usually too young, but then as they get more mature they bring them on the outside of the hoop houses, and I'll be sure to take you guys around there. So here's one of the things the new owner is doing, he's actually running sales. So you know, let's be honest, CPG's primary business is selling to nurseries. All the nurseries probably down the street from you that would sell bedding plants and vegetables, 5 gallon and 1 gallon plants, that being said, he has a lot of inventory that sometimes he can't sell to nurseries because nurseries don't want them when they're too big, but when he has those, then actually they go on sale right here. So check this out guys, he's got some peppers for a buck and for two bucks, so let me go ahead and show you guys what you could have bought if you were here today for literally a buck. With inflation, these prices are absolutely insane and these are nice healthy plants ready to go in your garden and depending where you live in Southern California, some of them may actually live throughout the winter time. Alright so the peppers that you could have found here today for a dollar and of course every season it changes, if you want the special, it's always good to come maybe later in that season, they'll often put on special like things they have an overabundance of that are not selling, things that are maybe getting a little more too mature to sell to the retailer. So for example, they got the orange habanero here, look at this, this plant already has lots of fruits on it, they got a whole selection of these, but even more rare than that, you could have bought the pepper scotch bonnet, this is one of the hottest peppers and you could have got one of the most hottest peppers in the world, this is the pepper carolina reaper right, carolina reapers if you guys find them at a nursery or something man, they're like five bucks a plant, not at CPG, end of season clearance, literally one buck, so that's amazing and they have several racks, at least three of these racks this big with all these peppers, so this would be great to plant a late garden or maybe if you want to grow it kind of more protected, it'll easily last through the fall and potentially through the winter. That being said, if you guys want a pepper that is more guaranteed to last through the winter and is actually quite ornamental, they got the black cobra, so these black cobras maybe they could use a bit of water, but these ones are a little bit more cold tolerant than the standard peppers and they make these little nice little black greenish peppers that are really hot and spicy, plus also this has nice kind of like leaves that are a bit soft and have some hairs on them, so they're kind of a little bit more decorative than your standard peppers. Alright another thing I love about CPG is that they have upfront low pricing, they're not trying to hide it, a lot of the nurseries I go to that are wholesome nurseries, you never know the price until you get up to the counter, you ask them the price and they tell you the price, you never know, maybe they're going to charge you more money for whatever reason or not, however they're feeling that day, nonetheless CPG basically tells you guys the prices upfront, the six packs are three bucks, you can get a whole flat for sixteen, which is a little bit more than two fifty each, they got single pots depending on the color, four inch, two fifty, two seventy five, three twenty five for some specialty ones, and then they got things like the one gallon and five gallons, which are five dollars and up and fifteen dollars and up for the five gallons, and of course that would depend on the plant. So let's go ahead and take a look around this yard and show you guys some of the different areas and some of the different plants, edible plants they currently have available. So now in the herb section they got all different kinds of herbs, dill, rue, rosemary, mint, all these things, but I really want to highlight a few that are actually quite valuable. Number one is they got the African blue basil, what you guys don't understand, unlike traditional basils like Italian basil, it'll kind of just grow and then go to flower and seed, the African blue basil is more of a perennial basil, so literally if you live in Southern California, it doesn't frost, you can grow this year round and have lots of basil to eat, so I really love that they have these available. In addition, another one of my favorite herbs to grow, also may survive the winter depending on how cold you get and it may come back from the roots the following year, it's not invasive like mint is, they got the stevia, and this is literally the sweet leaf plant, this is what they make the sugar substitute out of, the stevia actually, and normally they extract the stevia out of leaves to give you some kind of white powder that you can buy at your health food store as a sugar substitute that contains no calories, one of the fun things I like to do is just harvest the leaves and actually add it to my juice when I'm juicing, it'll actually make my juice taste sweet without adding any additional sugar, and it's really cool to eat these leaves, maybe grab a couple of leaves of this, a couple of leaves of mint at the same time, and you'll have sweet mint that's good to try before you go out on a date. Alright, so while most of the country can't grow tomatoes in the wintertime because it's strictly too cold, here in Southern California depending on where you live and how cold it gets and it doesn't get below freezing, you may be able to grow tomatoes, and that's why I really love CPG because they really go out and try to source the varieties that they're going to grow best in this climate zone during the winter, for me tomatoes are strictly a summer crop, but they have specific varieties of tomatoes that they're growing here that they still can't take a frost, but they will even fruit reliably even with cooler weather, so for example they have the tomato winter Siberia that could even fruit in colder weather, they have another one called the winter tomato glacier, and then they also have another one called the winter tomato Oregon spring that is used to the cool temperatures of places like Oregon on the coast like in Portland, and so that's why I really love CPG because you never know what you're going to find if you're just wandering around and looking at all the amazing plant starts here. So now we're in the area with the six pack vegetables and once again we are here in September which is the fall season pretty much, time to plant out your fall gardens, and another reason why I love CPG is they have some of the best varieties and healthiest varieties that you guys grow according to science, so one of my favorites actually is this guy right here, this is known as the Lola Rosa lettuce, this lettuce is a little bit red now and a lot of green, but when the cold hits these leaves turn totally deep red, that means they have a lot more anthocyanins and at least four times more nutritious than standard green lettuce. Basically this is like my predominant lettuce that I grow that I source from CPG, the other thing I'll say is that these plants are ready to hit the ground now, look at this, I mean every time I'm here at CPG I always like check out the root zone, right, check out, I don't know if you guys can see that, but the roots are really at the bottom, they're ready to start digging into that soil in your raised bed at your house. Now aside from the Lola Rosa lettuce, one of my favorite leafy greens to grow, mild mustard greens to grow in the winter time is the Komatsuna, you can see behind me they have lots of Komatsuna, Komatsuna in my garden, link down below if I remember and a link down below to my video on why you should grow purple or red vegetables in your garden, is one of my favorite leafy greens, I can literally pick this and eat it like lettuce, it's really mild flavor, but yet published studies show it is very high in nutrition because it is a Brassica family, it is also detoxification, help your liver detoxify as well as be potentially anti-cancer and it grows so easy and it was the first one that I was harvesting in my winter garden and I was able to harvest it for quite a long period of time. That being said, my tip on Komatsuna is don't plant it too early, if it gets too hot in the early season it will bolt really quick, so you want to wait until it's a bit cooler and then plant it and you'll be enjoying Komatsuna throughout the fall and winter. Now another tip I want to give you guys while I'm in the vegetable six pack area because this is primarily what I buy here, I primarily buy honestly guys six packs, it's the best deal and when I come here I don't just buy one six pack, while you could do that you're going to pay three dollars at present time for one six pack, but if you find yourself a flat and then I basically tap off the flat so there's no extra dirt on the flat to get in my car, you're going to basically load up a flat with six of the six packs, so you'll have 36 plants for 16 bucks, that is how you're going to get the best deal here at CPG and unlike regular nurseries on the corner that may only have one or two or three of the six packs of Lolorosa, you can see this whole area has all these different six packs, so I go around and find the best growing, healthiest ones and once again if you come here and do that you're assured a higher probability of success because you're coming here, you don't have to just buy the runs, you don't buy the runs, you buy the ones that are super healthy, looking super good, they're already off to the races so they have a higher probability of success when you garden. So when you guys are ready to pay or if you have questions, you notice anybody that's working here in the yard, you have questions, you want to definitely come up to this little trailer and this is also the area that you pay. That being said, another reason why I love CPG and all these reasons kind of make it for me the best nursery in Southern California where I get wholesale prices is because on a daily basis on their website, certifiedplantgrowers.com, they publish a PDF file, I have a printout of their PDF file and this is basically a PDF file that goes out to all the local nurseries that they sell to. This basically shows their inventory of what they have in stock at this time that the nurseries can order that are at the appropriate height for the nurseries. That means they're not overgrown or they're not too young because they want to take care of their wholesale business because those guys order day after day, week after week. So they've got different colors, like if you're going to plant annual color flowers and what not, I usually just don't jump down to the CP Veggies and Herbs, CP is basically the six pack and you can see right now they've got little finger carrots, it's an A3 so that'll tell you where it's located, you can ask one of the guys at work here like hey where are these at and then they'll tell you. So what often times before I come down, I'll basically print out a list and highlight the ones I want and then I'll come down and just either find them myself, which I have fun walking around just finding them, or ask one of the guys at work. In addition, besides the CP they have the four inch pots, which are generally the circular pots, sometimes they'll have a square pot as well, at current time they have four inch artichokes and early girl tomatoes, this also tells you the number in stock. So if it says kale lacinato three, that doesn't mean they have three six packs, that means they have three flats, so that's three times six is eighteen six packs in stock. And if there's something on the list that you want and you don't want to make the drive down, you're not sure if they have them, you want to give them a call, always guys give them a call, they're here to help you out, their phone number is 562-864-9448. In addition, this list will also list some of the things in one gallons, which is actually mostly ornamentals, as well as five gallons, which is mostly ornamentals as well, but on the five gallons and one gallon sometimes they may have some vegetables, like the tree collard which is my favorite, and I'll show you guys those in a second, as well as things like berries, as well as some fruit trees, as well as things like papaya, and even moringa, which is one of my favorites as well. So while we're in this area, actually I want to show you guys a special potting soil mix that you're not going to find anywhere else that is amazing, because actually last trip I got a bag and I've been using it to amend all my potted plants with when I make a new soil mix and I'm filling my pots up, so for example I was potting up some sweet potato slips and I used a lot of their mix with my compost to basically make a much better mix for my sweet potatoes that are growing like gangbusters this summer. Alright guys, check it out, this is a very special soil mix that actually they use to grow their six-packs and four-inch plants from. What they do, they combine different high-quality ingredients that they've been sourcing a long time, such as maybe from SunGrow or other locations, other companies, and they put in like a fir bark, they put in like a peat moss and a perlite, and then they grow their plant starts in and that's what you end up buying and transplanting in your garden. I believe they have one of the best mixes, because some companies use mixes with too much peat and then the plants are kind of stunted, they don't really grow well, but they got the perfect mix that just does amazing, because I've compared all the nurseries, wholesale nurseries in the area, CPG consistently has the best prices and the best starter plants, and what happens is not every six-pack they grow is successful, or every four-inch they grow is successful, and you know, you guys have killed plants, nurseries can kill lots of plants, and when some of the six-packs don't make it, they basically then recompose that mixture that they were being grown in, and then they'll put it and sell it to you guys in a bag, so nothing is wasted, this bag is actually quite heavy guys, it's not really sold, it's just sold by the bag, not by the how much is in there, but I would guess this to be approximately one and a half cubic feet of prime growing material, I would not use this necessarily for starting seeds and whatnot, but easily for up-potting, transplants, creating your own soil mix by adding compost into it, this would be amazing, this bag is actually quite heavy and it's only seven bucks, there's probably no better deal for bag potting soil than here at CPG, alright so check it out guys, right across from where the potting soil is, I wanted to show you guys this equipment, this is where literally they put all the ingredients to make their seed starting mixture, some nurseries will just buy mixtures from big companies and then put those in the little six-packs or the four-inch and then just try to grow the plants in there, when you do that, a lot of the mixes that you just buy pre-made are not that good, that's why CPG over the years have refined their recipes to make the certain proportions of all the different ingredients so that they have the best seed starting mix and they have the healthiest plants. So today I'm in the minivan, we're going to load this baby up with some plant starts from CPG and I say grow big or go home, and the cool thing about CPG, you can load up your car and just put it on your carpet and stuff, but I don't know about you, but I've tried to vacuum up soil and potting mix from carpet and it just doesn't really like to come up so much. You could bring a tarp like I saw somebody here buying plants today did, but the other thing I want to let you guys know is that CPG offers for free this basically plastic liner that I'm just going to roll out and line the back of the minivan here so that the minivan does not get dirt anywhere. When you're done you can go ahead and fold all this up, shake it off, and you can actually recycle this at any place that recycles the plastic bags, so for example many grocery stores will recycle the plastic bags. Let me go ahead and roll this stuff out and I'll show you guys what it looks like after I have the minivan lined. So as you guys can see we've got the back of the minivan lined really nicely so no dirt is going to get onto the carpet, something very important to me because you're going to spend twice as much time trying to get that dirt and the potting soil off your carpet with a vacuum and honestly you're not going to get it all. So we've got it all lined, next up we're going to go ahead and fill this puppy up with all kinds of amazing CPG PlantStars. The next plant I'm actually buying today, actually a whole bunch of these because they are so valuable and I personally believe that everybody in Southern California that is growing a garden should be growing these plants right here. These are known as perennial tree collards. You literally plant these just once and they grow 365 days a year here in Southern California. Of course if you're not lucky enough to live in Southern California maybe you can get by with this being perennial in zone 8 if you're lucky. That being said, the reason why I love this is because these are special genetics. These are not like standard kale plants or collard plants that you would grow and then they would set seed and then they would stop producing and pretty much just make little small leaves for the rest of their lives if they did live multi-years. This plant has been bred and is only propagated through cuttings to get the exact genetics which is what they do here to guarantee you guys get the green tree collard pure genetics that are bred for Southern California. I first learned about the tree collards in Northern California where the predominant variety grown up there is purple which actually they do have in limited supply here at CPG but that one is not as heat tolerant. This is the very tree collard that I grow in Las Vegas that can survive multiple years and can easily survive in a more mild climate here in Southern California. This thing can grow up to 12-15 feet tall so if you buy one of these at CPG which is the other thing guys you guys don't understand. These are the nicest tree collards that I have seen for sale anywhere. Normally if you want tree collards you got to buy them by either cuttings or plant starts. You try to buy them on eBay you'll get little sticks that you got to put in the ground. A lot of those times those sticks or the cuttings may not root and may not turn into a really healthy plant. CPG has done all the hard work for you and as you guys saw before you know these 5 gallons plants start at 15. I don't know exactly the price right now of the tree collards but I'll tell you what these are some of the healthiest tree collards at the lowest price you're ever going to find. I like to harvest the young baby leaves and especially in the winter time they get sweet. Of course in the summer time when it's more hot they're a little bit more hot and spicy. I like to juice the large leaves like this or slice them up and then steam them myself. Of course the smaller baby leaves I love to put in vacuum blended smoothies and or just chop up and eat as a salad. I don't want you guys to miss out on all the unique phytochemicals, anti-cancer, liver detoxification properties in this plant. It is one amazing plant and this is probably my favorite plant that I grow in my garden because it grows easily year round and I have a constant supply of leafy greens. I don't know if you guys shop at like Whole Foods or something lately but like 6 leaves of collard greens are like $3 and they're wilty and old. You guys grew these outside your house. You could harvest one, have it fresh, delicious for you guys to eat. Minimal nutrient loss and the highest nutrition ever. Alright so this is the end of the video as you guys can see I got the whole minivan loaded up with plant starts from CPG. I'm so glad that this is the first time I've seen here that they now have the purple tree collards. You know the green tree collards tend to kind of grow like as a long tree literally but the purples have a lot more up shoot so it kind of grows a funky bush thing and gets all crazy. But as I said these guys don't handle the heat as well as the green ones. That being said I will say the purple ones get even sweeter and are actually more nutritious and taste better than the green ones. So you got to kind of weigh out. Maybe if you come here and you're lucky enough to find, well get one of each actually. And then of course I got some moringas here over in the nice 5 gallon pot so you know here's the thing man I've seen plant starts at so many different nurseries and people that start them and available for sale but I always keep coming back to CPG and I want you guys to check them out. If you guys are in Southern California it is worth a drive. Trust me. I mean I drive from Las Vegas to check out CPG and buy my plant starts. So yeah you guys should check it out. Lowest prices, wide selection and you learned why I love CPG so much based on this video earlier. If you guys want to learn more about CPG you can check them out at certifiedplantgrowers.com. I'll put their links to their website as well as the availability list and their address and phone number in the comments and description down below. So I surely hope you enjoyed this episode learning about my favorite nursery here in Southern California and if you did please be sure to give this video a big thumbs up. More importantly share this with other people that live in Southern California so that they can learn about one amazing nursery that sells literally wholesale to the public saving you guys lots of money. Also be sure to click that subscribe button right down below so you don't miss my new and upcoming episodes. I'll be coming out every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. You never know where I'll show up or what you'll be learning on my YouTube channel. Finally be sure to check out past episodes. Past episodes are a wealth of knowledge. Over 1700 episodes at this time on this channel dedicated to teach you guys all about how to grow your own food at home the highest quality possible. So with that my name is John Kohler with growingyourgreens.com. We'll see you next time and until then remember, keep on growing.