Placer, El Dorado master gardeners also welcome visitors to their sites
This view of the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center shows the pond, the berry garden and part of the orchard. Visit between 9 a.m. and noon Saturday. Kathy Morrison
No rain is expected this Saturday, May 11, which means it should be a perfect time to stroll any of the region's three master gardener demonstration gardens.
The Sacramento County master gardeners open their demonstration garden, the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center, about once a month for Open Garden Day. Visitors can walk through the gardens, ask questions and find inspiration in the plantings. Hours are 9 a.m. to noon; admission and parking are free.
Three mini talks are scheduled during the morning:
-- 10 a.m., "Peach Leaf Curl: Let's Get It Straight."
-- 10:30 a.m., Soil solarization.
-- 11 a.m., Harvesting worm castings.
The FOHC includes a berry garden, an orchard, an herb garden, vegetable garden, a vineyard, a composting area and the Water Efficient Landscape, which includes plantings devoted to native plants, wildlife habitat plants, perennials and succulents.
May is an active time in the gardens, and master gardeners will be on site, happy to explain their work or answer any gardening questions that visitors might have.
The "Ask a Master Gardener" table also will be staffed with folks who enjoy a good gardening challenge. Bring samples of pests or problem plants (preferably in a closed bag) to the table.
The Fair Oaks Horticulture Center is located at 11549 Fair Oaks Blvd., south of the Fair Oaks Library and park. For more information on Sacramento County master gardener events, visit https://sacmg.ucanr.edu/
The El Dorado County master gardeners undoubtably will be glad for some sunshine while working at their Sherwood Demonstration Garden on Saturday. The garden, located at 6699 Campus Drive, Placerville, is open 9 a.m. to noon. Sherwood features 16 individual garden areas, including a rose garden, native plant area and vegetable garden.
For information on the El Dorado group's events, go to https://mgeldorado.ucanr.edu/
Further north, the Placer County master gardeners will hold their monthly Open Loomis Demonstration Garden Day, on the grounds of the Loomis Library, from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. The library is at 6050 Library Drive, Loomis.
"Our garden is a living classroom for the Placer County community that emphasizes sustainable gardening, integrated pest management and backyard food production," they note. The master gardeners are happy to field questions from visitors.
This weekend, incidentally, is a busy one for the Placer master gardener group. Sunday, May 12, is their annual Mother's Day Garden Tour. Tickets for the tour of seven fabulous gardens in Rocklin area are $20 each, with children under 12 admitted free.
Tickets with maps will be available through the day of the tour (cash or check only) at: Green Acres Nursery at Eisley’s: 380 Nevada St., Auburn; Green Acres Nursery & Supply: 5436 Crossings Drive, Rocklin, and
Green Acres Nursery & Supply: 7300 Galilee Road, Roseville.
For more information on Placer County master gardener events, visit https://pcmg.ucanr.edu/
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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.