Save the date or bookmark the site
|
|
Espaliered fruit trees lead to the vegetable garden at the Fair Oaks Horticulture
Center, a scene from the most recent Open Garden Day, Feb. 8, 2020. The next one will be Sept. 11. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)
|
Lots of little tidbits are floating around that need to be collected somewhere this week, so why not here?
1) The weather forecast thankfully is milder this weekend than last. This is an excellent time to visit the El Dorado County master gardeners' Sherwood Demonstration Garden at the Folsom Lake College El Dorado Center, Placerville. Hours are 9 a.m. to noon Fridays and Saturdays when the morning forecast is 95 degrees or lower. This weekend certainly qualifies.
The site features 16 individual themed gardens, including a Mediterranean Garden, Japanese Garden and a Children's Garden. A map of the garden and details on parking are here.
2) Speaking of gardens, the city of Woodland is constructing a rain garden in a corner of Crawford Park. Here's the description from the city website:
"The rain garden will divert stormwater from El Dorado Drive into a retention swale and includes a drought-tolerant demonstration garden and shaded seating area. Landscaping will include native, drought-tolerant, and pollinator-friendly plants suitable for sun and shade, as well as wet and dry conditions. ...
"The rain garden will integrate 'green infrastructure' into the park, demonstrate how small-scale green infrastructure projects can work even in residential yards, and provide a venue for ongoing education about green infrastructure and sustainable gardening."
Here's the city's page on the project, with a map and more details. The Yolo County master gardeners are involved in this project.
3) Harvest Day will be virtual again this year, as I wrote a few weeks ago , but most of the videos created for it will be posted soon at the Sacramento County master gardeners' YouTube channel . Again, registrations are already being accepted for the live-online Q&A sessions and webinars planned for Aug. 7. This page has the links for registration and the full schedule.
|
|
Master gardener Linda Sanford gives a demonstration on planting
strawberries during the Feb. 8, 2020, Open Garden Day.
|
There will be more information soon, but I do know attendees will be among the first members of the public to see the new Chuck Ingels memorial gate being installed this summer near the FOHC entrance. Chuck, a longtime UCCE farm and garden adviser who died in August 2018, was the driving force behind the Hort Center, and he is dearly missed. Here's the post Debbie wrote about Chuck after his memorial service.
-- Kathy Morrison
Comments
0 comments have been posted.Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.
Local News
Thanks to our sponsor!
Sites We Like
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.
Powered by California Local
