Find veggies, perennials and more at fundraising plant sales
This mural points the way to Luther Burbank High School's Urban Garden (BUG), which hosts a plant sale each spring of student-raised veggies, flowers and herbs. This year's is on April 5. Kathy Morrison
March is the warm-up, but April is the true peak of spring garden events in the Sacramento region. Plant sales continue, to be followed later in the month by the first wave of garden tours.
All these events are fundraisers for schools or nonprofit organizations. The plant prices typically are bargains, and the tours are worth the cost for the inspiration they provide.
Here's a look at the sales in April. We'll have more on each as the dates approach. (And we'll write about the tours in a post next week.)
-- Saturday, April 5, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Burbank (High School) Urban Garden's spring plant sale should be an especially joyous one this year. The school's Urban Agriculture Academy in January was threatened with closure, but now -- thanks to a huge outpouring of community support -- it will live on as a full three-year academy program. Look for summer veggies, herbs and many flowers, all raised by the students. 3500 Florin Road, Sacramento. https://www.facebook.com/BurbankUrbanGarden
-- The UC master gardeners of Yolo County hold the first of two plant sales in Woodland on April 5 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Woodland Community College, 2300 E. Gibson Road. Expect vegetables -- including more than 30 varieties of tomatoes -- native plants, bulbs, succulents and more.
-- Sunday, April 6. UC Davis Arboretum's second spring sale is a split sale: The first hour, at 9 a.m., is for Friends members only, then at 10 a.m. the gate is opened for members of the public. The sale concludes at 1 p.m. The updated plant inventory should be available soon.
-- Saturday, April 12, might as well be National Plant Sale Day. Four local sales are on tap, starting off with the American River College Horticulture Department's Spring Sale, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Vegetables, annual flowers, succulents, perennials and more. All plants are student-grown. Credit cards accepted. Proceeds benefit the Horticulture program. Sale is in the Environmental Resource area, northeast corner of campus, just southeast of the new MTC building and south of Parking lot A on Myrtle Ave. American River College is at 4700 College Oak Drive, Sacramento.
--Also on April 12, the UC master gardeners of El Dorado County present the first of two spring sales, 8 a.m. to noon at their Sherwood Demonstration Garden, 6699 Campus Drive, Placerville. Edibles are up first, including tomatoes, herbs and fruit. Parking at the site is $2.
-- The Elk Grove Garden Club will hold its Spring Plant Sale on April 12 as well. 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., 8609 Brodie Ct., Elk Grove. Sacramento County master gardeners are among the propagators of plants for this sale. Always an intriguing selection, including some unusual plants.
-- Also on April 12 is the second of the Yolo County master gardeners' sales in Woodland. Same hours and location as the first: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Woodland Community College, 2300 E. Gibson Road.
-- Friday, April 18. The first of two days for the Sacramento Perennial Plant Club's Spring Sale, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1911 Bannon Creek Drive, Sacramento (South Natomas area). Continues April 19, same times. This sale is known for its terrific selection of member-propagated plants and is held in a great setting. The plants for sale include vegetables, native plants and, of course, perennials.
-- Saturday, April 19. Those busy Yolo master gardeners join the community plant sale in Winters, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Winters Community Library Teaching Garden, 708 Railroad Ave., Winters. Winters FFA students will have tomato and pepper starts for sale. Pollinator plants grown by Garden volunteers and Morningsun Herb Farm will be available, and The Succulent Lady will have succulents to purchase.
-- Saturday, April 26. The third spring sale of the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery is open to everyone, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
-- April 26 also is the date for the second half of the El Dorado master gardeners' Spring Plant Sale, 8 a.m. to noon. This one will feature ornamentals and native plants.
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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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Enjoy this spring weather – and get gardening!
* 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. 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.
* 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.
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