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Heat speeding up harvest; what to do?

Free Zoom workshop tackles stone fruit preservation

Ripe apricots
Avalanche of apricots, plethora of peaches: The heat has accelerated harvest times for stone fruit.
Learn how to save your harvest in free Zoom classes this Saturday or July 21. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)
This intense heat is making summer fruit literally fall from the trees.

Apricots, plums, nectarines, peaches and other stone fruit are ripening two or more weeks ahead of schedule. (Cherries, always the first to ripen, are pretty much done.) In addition, heat-stressed trees of all sorts are shedding immature fruit.

Knowing that the harvest may arrive early, what are you going to do with all that fruit?

Learn how to preserve stone fruit of all kinds during a free Zoom workshop, presented by the UC Master Food Preservers of San Joaquin County.

Set for 10 a.m. Saturday, June 19, this two-hour workshop will cover the basics of stone fruit preservation, including freezing, canning and drying. Master food preservers will discuss what makes a fruit a “stone fruit,” with tips specific to keeping peaches, apricots, nectarines, plums, cherries and their relatives looking and tasting their best for future use.

The class is free, but advance registration is required; participants can sign up right until the workshop begins. Once registered, participants will receive an email with the necessary Zoom link.

To sign up, go to
https://www.facebook.com/events/909567522926502/ or the Master Food Preservers website, https://bit.ly/2TJaRnJ .

For more on food preservation and links to more virtual workshops: https://ucanr.edu/sites/NSJMFP/ .

Can’t make Saturday’s class? The UC Master Food Preservers of Sacramento County will present their own virtual stone fruit workshop at 6:30 p.m. July 21. Registration for that free Zoom class is coming soon. Details: http://sacmfp.ucanr.edu/ .

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Garden Checklist for week of May 19

Temperatures will be a bit higher than normal in the afternoons this week. Take care of chores early in the day – then enjoy the afternoon. It’s time to smell the roses.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. If you haven’t already, it’s 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.

* 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.

* Don’t forget to water. Seedlings need moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy 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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