Select local vendors, clubs and organizations bring wide range of specialties
Plant lovers browse the offerings of Morningsun Herb Farm during a previous Harvest Day. The Vacaville nursery will be back with herbs, perennials and native plants at Saturday's event, along with nine other vendors of plants and garden-related products. Kathy Morrison
Why go to Harvest Day? There are so many attractions for our gardening community: Informative speakers, hands-on demonstrations, a chance to get personalized advice from local experts plus tours of the Sacramento County master gardeners’ slice of educational paradise – the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center in Fair Oaks Park.
Of course, there’s shopping – one of the best assortments of garden vendors at any Sacramento-area event. The vendors are accompanied by dozens of garden education tables staffed by garden club members and nursery representatives, often offering free gifts. (Patrons also get a wonderful goodie bag at the gate.)
No wonder Harvest Day is our region’s biggest free annual gardening gathering.
Back in person and bigger than ever, Harvest Day is set for Saturday, Aug. 5, with the gates open from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.; come early to beat the heat.
At least 10 vendors are expected to offer their garden wares in the shade of the trees outside the Hort Center’s main entrance. Among the featured sellers are some local favorites:
* Exotic Plants, Sacramento’s go-to indoor plant store, brings its spectacular selection of orchids, aroids, succulents and tropical favorites.
* Morningsun Herb Farm, Vacaville’s destination nursery for herbs from around the globe, offers a huge assortment of herbs and perennials that thrive in the Central Valley and foothills.
* Miridae Mobile Nursery will wheel in its large, curated assortment of domesticated wildflowers and native plants. Sales support its West Sacramento-based nonprofit education lab.
* Tranquill Gardens, which specializes in turning local backyards into personal sanctuaries, is known for its water-wise gardening expertise as well as drought-tolerant and native plants.
* Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society has hundreds of plants propagated from its members’ vast collections.
* Hummingbird Feeders R Us (aka Yankee Glass Art) turns antique glassware into one-of-a-kind bird feeders and garden art.
* Wild Birds and Gardens offers supplies to keep our feathered friends happy and visiting regularly.
* Full Moon Metal Design of West Sacramento makes evocative garden art out of recycled tools, nails, bolts, sheeting and other castoffs.
* MushyLove sells mushroom-growing kits so gardeners can produce their own oyster mushrooms and other fungal delicacies.
* UC Davis Olive Center, which just won Best of California at the 2023 State Fair’s virgin olive oil competition, sells its award-winning olive oil made with olives harvested on campus.
Besides these vendors, the adjacent education area will have nurseries and garden supplies well represented including Green Acres Nursery & Supply, Kellogg Garden Products, E.B. Stone soil amendments and irrigation experts Hunter Industries.
Looking for advice or a new hobby? Among the clubs on hand will be the Sierra Foothills Rose Society (featuring master rosarian and bug answer man Baldo Villegas), Sacramento Perennial Plant Club, the Renaissance Society, Sacramento County 4-H, Audubon Society and the Sacramento Cactus and Succulent Society.
Representatives from the Sacramento Tree Foundation, SMUD and local water districts will offer advice on current programs for local residents such as free shade trees and rebates for irrigation upgrades.
All this shopping, browsing and talking can get people hungry (or thirsty). There will be food trucks, too, including Chando’s Tacos, Hefty Gyros, Java Johnny’s and Sweet Tooth Ice Cream Cart.
Admission and parking are free. Kids are welcome. Service dogs are allowed, but no other pets.
Fair Oaks Horticulture Center is located in Fair Oaks Park at 11549 Fair Oaks Blvd., Fair Oaks.
Details, map and full schedule: https://sacmg.ucanr.edu/Harvest_Day/.
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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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