Learn about planting garlic -- and preserving it, too
Garlic planting time is coming up quickly. Garlic is an important member of the allium family, which also includes onions, shallots, leeks and chives. Kathy Morrison
Growing your own food and then cooking it can be thrill for a beginning gardener. But even folks experienced in edible gardening are likely to learn something fun in an upcoming combo class on alliums -- garlic, onions, shallots and other plant relatives.
"Garlic, Shallots and More" will be offered 9 a.m. to noon this Saturday, Sept. 16, by the UCCE El Dorado County master gardeners and master food preservers.
Here's how they explain it: "The master gardeners will discuss how to successfully select, grow, and harvest onions, garlic, shallots, leeks, scallions and chives. Information covered will include soil preparation, fertilizer requirements, pest management and water needs.
"The master food preservers will discuss safe preserving methods for your harvest. Additionally, you will go home with fantastic recipes, tips and tricks for your alliums."
The class will be held at the Sherwood Demonstration Garden, 6699 Campus Drive in Placerville. It is free, but the organizers ask that interested folks register ahead here.
The El Dorado master gardeners have two other classes on Saturdays this month: Greenhouse Gardening on Sept. 23 and Shade Gardening on Sept. 30. Each is 3 hours long, 9 a.m. to noon. For more information on these and other events, go to the calendar on their website, https://mgeldorado.ucanr.edu/Calendar/
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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 4
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.