Students' portable food gardens compete
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This gingham-wrapped wheelbarrow is an example of the
portable gardens entered in the Sacramento County Fair. Note
the pictures of students around the bottom of the wheelbarrow. (Photo courtesy Sacramento County Fair) |
After a two-year hiatus, the Sacramento County Fair returns this week to Cal Expo – and so does one of its most popular garden-inspired events.
Dozens of portable gardens created by local students will compete in the fair’s “Farm Garden in a Wheelbarrow” contest.
“Farm Garden in a Wheelbarrow is an educational program designed to educate young children, grades K-6, about the importance of agriculture, where their food comes from and how it grows,” according to fair organizers.
Making that connection is vital for kids to understand so they have a better appreciation of food and farming, especially in the Farm-to-Fork Capital.
“If our children don’t understand where our food comes from, where will our food come from in the future?” say the organizers.
The program is open to both public and private schools as well as after-school programs, 4-H clubs and home school groups. Each wheelbarrow garden is a multi-month project, usually planted in winter or early spring.
What grows in a wheelbarrow? Just about anything that can sprout and root in a container. Among the favorite crops featured in these movable raised beds: Radishes, lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, beets, carrots, even corn -- plus several varieties of flowers and herbs.
Classrooms add their own often-whimsical touches to make their wheelbarrow garden stand out, such as photos of students, an over-sized fork or toy roller coaster. See for yourself; the competing gardens will be displayed in one of the fair exhibit halls.
Meanwhile, the fair will be packed with many old-time favorites such as livestock judging, horse show, free entertainment (including duck and pig races) and carnival rides. The fair also will unveil a new attraction: “Dinosaurs Throughout the Ages,” featuring life-size replicas as well as “living fossils” – real reptiles such as alligators and horned lizards.
The 86th annual Sacramento County Fair runs Thursday through Memorial Day, May 26-30. Fair hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday-Sunday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday. Admission is $12; youth, ages 12-16, $10; children age 11 and younger admitted free. Seniors Day is Thursday with $8 admission for patrons age 60 and older. Parking is $10.
Cal Expo is located at 1600 Exposition Blvd., Sacramento.
Details and directions: www.sacfair.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.
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