Yolo County master gardeners offer free workshop via Zoom
White peaches ripen on the tree within easy reach of picking. Summer pruning can help keep fruit trees compact and more productive. Debbie Arrington
Fruit trees can be perplexing for backyard gardeners – especially when (and how) to prune.
Here’s an opportunity to learn a lot without leaving home.
At 3 p.m. Thursday, May 23, the Yolo County Master Gardeners will host a Zoom presentation devoted to “Summer Fruit Tree Care and Pruning.” The free one-hour workshop is open to the public, no matter where they live.
“Did you know that there are benefits to pruning fruit trees in the summer?” ask the hosts. “Join experienced UCCE Master Gardener-Yolo Bonnie Berman for ‘Summer Fruit Tree Care and Pruning’ and learn the reasons for and the ‘how to’ of pruning in the summer.”
Pruning actually encourages growth. It’s also an opportunity to shape the tree, remove diseased wood and improve the health of the tree. Pruning at the right time can help set up a good harvest the following year.
For the Zoom link, contact Joan Tuss at Joan.Tuss@yolocounty.org.
Details: https://yolomg.ucanr.edu/.
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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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