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| The grape tasting table is a popular stop during Harvest Day. (Photos: Kathy Morrison) |
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| Rudbeckia brightens the Water Efficient Landscape. |
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This whimsical plant ID
hangs in the vegetable garden. |
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| "Farmer Fred" Hoffman, left, and Phil Purcell talk trees. |
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Master Gardener Carole Ludlum talks trouble-shooting grapevine
problems. Below, grape clusters in birdproof organza bags. |
If a tomatillo isn’t growing properly, they don’t rip it out, they explain it. If a sweet potato vine develops fasciation (a condition in which the vine flattens and looks fused), they use it as a learning tool. They tackle questions like “Is there any way to keep birds from eating the grapes in the vineyard?” If you saw the little organza bags tied around the bunches of grapes, you saw their attempt at an answer. (Apparently the bags do stop the birds, but not the squirrels. Ah, well.)
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The Master Gardeners' help table was busy all day long.
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Choosing blossoms and herbs to make a solar-dyed silk scarf was a fundraising activity at Harvest Day.
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Plant vendors such as Morningsun Herb Farm drew many shoppers.
The event also offered food trucks and educational tables. |
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Food in My Back Yard Series
May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success
April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?
April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)
April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers
April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds
March 4: Potatoes from the garden
Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space
Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting
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Garden Checklist for week of May 11
Make the most of the lower temperatures early in the week. We’ll be back in the 80s by Thursday.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. 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. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)
* Plant dahlia tubers.
* 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.
* Add mulch to the garden to maintain moisture. 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.
* Remember to weed! Pull those nasties before they set seed.
* Water early in the day and keep seedlings evenly moist.
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