Elk Grove, Orangevale each host information events
Learn how to grow pumpkins -- many times bigger than this one! -- during "Grow Orangevale Gardening Day" this Saturday. Elk Grove also will be the site of a garden information event, on both Saturday and Sunday. Kathy Morrison
The first spring weekend is ahead of us, but it's going to be rainy! Gee, and just as we were re-adjusting to getting dirt under our fingernails and wearing sun protection.
Well, here's how to make the best of it: This weekend, two free gardening information events will be held, one at either end of Sacramento County. Open to all, these events will be especially useful for beginning gardeners, but also should have good refresher information for experienced folks.
Ever wanted to grow a giant pumpkin? In Orangevale on Saturday, teen gardener and youth pumpkin weigh-off champion Sankalp Immadisetty will offer his tips as part of the "Grow Orangevale Gardening Day" event at the Orangevale Library.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., "Grow Orangevale" will have a full slate of talks, as well as a plant and seed swap. (The public is welcome to bring plants or seeds to trade.)
Podcaster and lifetime master gardener "Farmer Fred" Hoffman will speak at 11 a.m., followed by Immadisetty and the Orangevale Farm & Garden Club at noon. A composting workshop with Lisa Christensen begins at 1 p.m., and the California Native Plant Society will give a presentation at 2 p.m.
The Orangevale Library is at 8820 Greenback Lane, Suite L, Orangevale.
In Elk Grove, meanwhile, the Elk Grove Community Garden and Learning Center will present a free "Gardening 101" class, 10 a.m. to noon. both Saturday and Sunday. "Learn to set up a garden big or small," say organizers. "Learn the importance of soil, water and sun."
RSVPs for this event can be called in to (916) 818-9108, but walk-ins also are welcome. The Elk Grove garden is at 10025 Hampton Oak Drive, Elk Grove.
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Garden Checklist for week of May 12
Get your gardening chores and irrigation done early in the day before temperatures rise.
* 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. This heat will cause leafy greens and onions to flower; pick them before they bolt.
* 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.
* Got fruit trees? If you haven't already done so, thin orchard fruit such as apples, peaches, pears, pluots and plums before they grow too heavy, breaking branches or even splitting the tree. Leave the largest fruit on the branch, culling the smaller ones, and allow for 5 to 6 inches (or a hand's worth) between each fruit.
* Thin grape bunches, again leaving about 6 inches between them. For the remaining bunches, prune off the "tail" end, about the bottom third of the bunch, so that the plant's energy is concentrated in the fruit closest to the branch.
* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier 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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