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Get help planning your summer garden

El Dorado County master gardeners offer free online class

Various seed packets
Time to break out the summer seeds and plan the
2021 summer garden. The UCCE master gardeners
have a class for that. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

It’s only January, but it’s already time to start planning for summer planting. It’s not too late to plant for spring, too.

Not sure where to start? Take a free online class from the UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners of El Dorado County. Thanks to the internet, you can take the course wherever you are (as long as you have wifi).

Set for 9 a.m. Jan. 30, “Spring and Summer Vegetables” will cover the basics of warm-season gardening with special attention to the needs of Foothill gardeners.

“Master Gardener Zack Dowell will discuss garden plant selection, planting times, site selection, soil preparation, proper seed planting techniques, and pest management,” according to the course description.

Registration is now open for the 90-minute class. Sign up now to make sure you get your slot.

While in-person workshops are still restricted due to COVID concerns, El Dorado County master gardeners will host a full schedule of online gardening classes. Other upcoming courses include: rose pruning (Feb. 10), fruit tree grafting (Feb. 13), fire-wise landscaping (Feb. 27) and vegetable gardening for small backyards (March 10).

These free courses are open to everyone, regardless of which county they reside.

Details and registration:
http://mgeldorado.ucanr.edu/ Links are sent out with the registration confirmation email.

- Debbie Arrington

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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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