Placer County master gardeners also host monthly Open Garden at Loomis Library
See how Placer County master gardeners make “garden gold” at their new demonstration garden at the Loomis Library. This is the “finished compost” bin at the garden, which will be open for visitors July 13. Kathy Morrison
Turn garbage into garden gold; it’s the magic of composting.
Learn how to make your own compost – and help your garden – during a free workshop presented by the Placer County master gardeners at the Loomis Library.
Set for 10:30 a.m. Saturday, July 13, this one-hour hands-on class will tackle the basics of “Compost and Mulch.” No advance registration is necessary.
“Who knew your kitchen scraps and yard debris could improve your soil?” say the master gardeners. “It’s called composting, which not only improves your soil, but helps you save water. Learn about how to set up a system that works for you. Also learn about the different types of mulch and how they protect your garden.”
Master gardeners will explain how compost and mulch work. (What’s the difference? Compost can be mulch, but not all mulch is compost.) They’ll also offer compost recipes for success, mixing kitchen scraps with dried leaves, grass clippings or other garden byproducts.
What to do with all that compost? It’s high-grade fertilizer that will produce bigger blooms and better harvests.
Before or after class, admire the master gardeners’ new demonstration garden outside the library. Master gardeners will be staffing the garden and answering questions from 10 a.m. to noon. Saturday, their monthly Open Garden Day.
“Master gardeners focus on visitor’s education and create enthusiasm for water-wise, environmentally focused, and inspirational ‘Gardening for Today,’” they say. “Our garden is a living classroom for the Placer County community that emphasizes sustainable gardening, integrated pest management and backyard food production.”
See for yourself. Loomis Library is located at 6050 Library Road, Loomis.
Details: https://pcmg.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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