The Mountain Mandarin Festival celebrates its 25th anniversary. (Photo courtesy Mountain Mandarin Festival.)
Silver lining to smoky weekend, popular citrus event marks 25th anniversary
Mandarins are ready, so this silver anniversary will go on.
Despite reports to the contrary, the 25th annual Mountain Mandarin Festival will be held as planned this weekend, Nov. 16-18, at the Gold Country Fairgrounds, 1273 High St., Auburn.
Wildfire smoke canceled several other local events, but air quality is expected to improve Saturday and Sunday, event organizers said. The festival holds some activities indoors.
With cooking contests and food galore, the Mountain Mandarin Festival celebrates the arrival of this local citrus crop. Dozens of local growers will be on hand to offer their fruit as well as mandarin-related products such as sauces, marmalade and baked goods.
The festival also is a major event for the Placer County master gardeners. They staff a booth all three days of the show, offering advice on how to grow citrus and much more. This festival, they’ll also give away free seeds.
At the festival, the master gardeners will offer their popular and very useful 2019 Calendar and Gardening Guide ($10) written specifically with foothill gardeners in mind.
Admission for today’s 11 a.m.-5 p.m. preview day, Nov. 16, is $4 for everyone. Festival hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, with $8 general admission, $5 seniors. Children age 12 and under admitted free. Parking is $6.
Details:
www.mandarinfestival.com
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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.