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Zoom in on 'Totally Tomatoes'

Placer County master gardeners offer free workshop on favorite crop

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED FEB 8, 2021

Tomatoes of many colors on a green plate

Dreaming of summer and a crop like this? Learn about growing tomatoes during a Zoom session

Saturday with the Placer County master gardeners. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

It may be only February, but Sacramento gardeners have one summer crop on their collective mind: Tomatoes!

What would you expect in the Big Tomato?

To get ready for the tomato season ahead, the UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners of Placer County will host a special Zoom workshop: “Totally Tomatoes.”

Set for 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 13, this free online seminar will include something for every tomato grower, from newbie to seasoned veteran.

Now is the time to start tomato seeds indoors, so the young plants will be ready for outdoor transplanting in spring. Get valuable pointers about starting seed, variety selection and how to grow your best harvest ever.

No advance registration is necessary. Find everything you need including Zoom link and pass code at: http://pcmg.ucanr.org/?calitem=495618&g=123640

On that webpage, you’ll also find links to these handy publications: UC Department of Agriculture and Natural Resource’s “Growing Tomatoes in the Home Garden”; specific home-garden tomato tips for Placer and Nevada counties; and master gardener seed-saving tips (which go way beyond tomatoes).

Placer County master gardeners have a full schedule of winter-early spring workshops via Zoom. Upcoming subjects: “Planning Your Summer Vegetable Garden” (Feb. 27); “From Bambi to Thumper” (managing deer, rabbits and other vertebrate pests, March 13); and “Growing Citrus in the Foothills” (March 27).

For details and links: http://pcmg.ucanr.org/

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UCCE master gardeners tomatoes gardening Sacramento free event online workshop summer vegetables Placer County classes Nevada County

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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3

November still offers good weather for fall planting:

* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.

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