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Get answers to summer garden pests, problems


The All-America Selections in the Hort Center's vegetable garden should be much bigger now than when this photo was taken during the May Open Garden. Check out the veggies and all the garden areas on Saturday. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)

Master gardeners host Open Garden at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center

Got a garden question? Need inspiration? What about a problem pest or plant issue?

This Saturday morning is your big opportunity. It’s Open Garden time at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center in Fair Oaks Park.

From 9 a.m. to noon June 15, the Sacramento County master gardeners open the gates of the Hort Center to visitors to watch them work and learn. Admission is free.

This Open Garden is devoted to summer gardening issues. Among other topics, the master gardeners will demonstrate: the many benefits of mulch; fruit thinning and summer pruning in the orchard; how to tell when blueberries are ripe (with a berry tasting); pest management in the vegetable garden; vineyard canopy management; and building healthy compost.

Three demonstrations are scheduled at 10 a.m.:

-- A demonstration at the Water Efficient Landscape Garden will cover growing sunflowers and succulents.

The great thing about finding a cool plant at the Hort Center
is that everything is well-labeled.
-- A walking tour at the Herb Project Area will cover how to harvest and dry herbs, gather seeds and more.

-- Master gardeners who work in the Vegetable Project Area will conduct a demonstration of a non-chemical method for controlling soil-born pests via soil solarization.

Bring your questions to the information table along with examples of problem pests or plant material in a ziplocked plastic bag.

The Fair Oaks Horticulture Center is located at 11549 Fair Oaks Blvd., Fair Oaks. Details:
sacmg.ucanr.edu

Note for gardeners who live closer to Placerville than to Fair Oaks: The El Dorado County master gardeners are now on duty during the El Dorado County Fair from the time the gates open to 9 p.m. Bring your questions to them in the Flowers and Plants Building and check out the exhibits there. The theme this year is "Wheelbarrow of Fun."

For more on the master gardeners at the fair, which runs through Sunday, read here .




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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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