Yolo County master gardeners offer morning Zoom class
Tomatoes can still be started in time for April or May planting. Yolo's "Kitchen Garden Chat" will include information on starting seeds. Kathy Morrison
What's a gardener to do? There's a very good chance this Saturday will be too wet to garden. And the 100th Sacramento Camellia Show (thankfully indoors) doesn't open on Saturday until 3 p.m. (It runs until 6 p.m.; Sunday is 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.)
But, stuck inside on a Saturday morning, gardeners still can get their green on. From 10 a.m. to 11 a.m., online via Zoom, the Yolo County master gardeners will present their monthly "Kitchen Garden Chat." The talk is free, and no registration is required. The Zoom link is https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/98028723763
March is an important month for area vegetable gardeners. Yolo master gardener Treva Valentine will go over what needs to be done in the edible garden during the month: what to plant, what to harvest and other important chores. She will also share details about starting edibles from seed and how to prepare the soil. This talk is part of an ongoing series.
The Yolo master gardeners have several events coming up -- most on Zoom -- but the next one, a flower-arranging class on Monday, March 4, will be in person from 1 to 5 p.m. at the West Sacramento Community Center, 1075 West Capitol Ave.
Upcoming Zoom classes include "Backyard Composting," 3-4 p.m. March 14, and "Vermiculture" (Worm Composting) from 3 to 4 p.m. March 28. The Yolo master gardeners also staff a "Questions and Answers" desk the first and third Saturdays of the month at the West Sacramento Lowe's store.
To get Zoom links and more information on Yolo County master gardener events, visit https://yolomg.ucanr.edu/?calendar=yes.
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Garden Checklist for week of May 12
Get your gardening chores and irrigation done early in the day before temperatures rise.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions. This heat will cause leafy greens and onions to flower; pick them before they bolt.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.
* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Got fruit trees? If you haven't already done so, thin orchard fruit such as apples, peaches, pears, pluots and plums before they grow too heavy, breaking branches or even splitting the tree. Leave the largest fruit on the branch, culling the smaller ones, and allow for 5 to 6 inches (or a hand's worth) between each fruit.
* Thin grape bunches, again leaving about 6 inches between them. For the remaining bunches, prune off the "tail" end, about the bottom third of the bunch, so that the plant's energy is concentrated in the fruit closest to the branch.
* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.
* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.
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