El Dorado, Placer master gardeners offer workshops
California flannel bush is an attractive California native plant that requires no summer watering once established. Kathy Morrison
With the fall plant sale season starting up, this is a great time to learn about landscaping with California natives.
The El Dorado County master gardeners will present a free “Native Plants” class this Saturday, Sept. 17, from 9 a.m. to noon at the Sherwood Demonstration Garden.
Master gardener Alice Cantelow will teach interested folks how to choose and add colorful, easy-care native plants to their gardens. And there are so many benefits: Natives attract wildlife and pollinators, and they require less water and fertilizers than non-natives.
The Sherwood Demonstration Garden is at 6699 Campus Drive in Placerville. It incorporates 16 individual theme gardens. With the pleasant weather we’re experiencing this week, the garden would be a lovely place to visit; this Friday, Sept. 16, it will be open to the public from 9 a.m. to noon.
For more information on the natives class, the Sherwood garden, or other El Dorado master gardener activities, go to https://mgeldorado.ucanr.edu/
The Placer County master gardeners, meanwhile, at 10:30 a.m. this Saturday will offer a free “Lawn Replacement Workshop” class at the Loomis Library, 6050 Library Drive, Loomis.
A similar class, “Lawn Removal,” will be offered at the Roseville Utility Exploration Center, 1501 Pleasant Grove Blvd., at 10 a.m. Oct. 8. Pre-registration is required, however. Cost for this workshop is $5 for residents, $6 for non-residents.
Find more information on Placer County master gardener events at https://pcmg.ucanr.org/
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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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