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Learn new garden skills in cool indoors

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JUN 25, 2019

This is a kokedama, a hanging plant in a soil ball covered with moss.
Learn the technique at a July 14 workshop. (Photo courtesy The Secret Garden)

The Secret Garden hosts summer workshops including kokedama, terrariums

Learning a new skill is fun. Combine that with gardening and you can count on more enjoyment to come.

The Secret Garden in Elk Grove offers a summer full of workshops for both beginning and experienced gardeners. Mindful of the summer heat, these workshops will focus on indoor gardening fun.

* Thursday, June 27, learn how to create a closed terrarium. This course ($45) includes an 8-inch-tall glass container with lid, rocks, soil and plants. Crystals, geodes and miniature accessories will be available at a discount. Take home your planted terrarium along with the skills to create more.

This 6 p.m. workshop is part of Secret Garden’s “Thirsty Thursday” series. Bring the beverage of your choice (including wine, cider, beer or non-alcoholic refreshment) for personal consumption. Light appetizers will be served.

* Next in the Thirsty Thursday series will be houseplant propagation. Set for 6 p.m. Thursday, July 18, that class ($35) will cover the basics of how to create more plants via cuttings. Learn how and when to make cuttings, keys to success as well as common mistakes. Participants will make their own hanging rooter as well as receive two cuttings to take home.

* Not into planting? How about painting? Local muralist Macy Martinez, whose work is seen by thousands each summer at Music Circus productions, will lead a class in how to paint succulents. Participants will learn her techniques for capturing these sculptured plants on canvas as well as tips for creating outdoor garden art. Each attendee will paint their own 12-inch all-weather artpiece to take home. This course ($59) is set for 10:30 a.m. Saturday, July 13. Fee includes all materials plus coffee, tea and doughnuts.

* Learn the secrets of kokedama, the Japanese technique of hanging (and living) arrangements. In kokedama, a soil ball covered with moss hangs from a string and is planted with ornamental or tropical plants such as ferns. This unusual method for hanging plants is popular in Japanese gardens and catching on rapidly with California gardeners, too. Set for 10 a.m. Sunday, July 14, this two-hour workshop ($45) includes the makings for two kokedama gardens including plants, soil, moss and string. Prepare to get messy! (It’s not as easy as it looks to get that soil ball on a string and covered with moss.)

Registration is now open for all of these workshops. Sign up early; space is limited. The Secret Garden is located at 8450 West Stockton Blvd., Elk Grove.

Details and registration: www.secretgarden-online.com or call 916-682-6839 .

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succulents gardening Sacramento workshops Elk Grove propagation events houseplants container gardening indoor plants summer

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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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