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Spring Gardening Tips for a Flourishing Garden
As the vibrant colors of spring burst forth and the air fills with the sweet scent of blossoms, it's the perfect time to roll up your sleeves and tend to your garden. Whether you're a seasoned gar...
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Share seeds with other gardeners and bring home some for your own garden, too
Coin envelopes are convenient storage for extra seeds to swap or save. Label with the year collected or purchased as well as the variety of seed. Kathy Morrison
Got more seeds than you know what to do with – and still need more?
Here’s an opportunity to share that wealth while also filling your own garden with varieties you haven’t yet grown.
On Saturday, Jan. 27, the Fair Oaks Branch Library will host “Sacramento Seed Swap and Share,” a local celebration of National Seed Swap Day.
From 1 to 3 p.m., the public is invited to bring vegetable, flower and herb seeds to this free event to swap with other gardeners – or just to share. The seed should come from non-hybrid varieties such as heirloom tomatoes, squash or beans. It can be seed saved from the grower’s own garden or commercially produced.
“Come trade and share seeds! Save money, reduce waste, and increase biodiversity!” say the organizers. “Bring open-pollinated and/or heirloom vegetable, flower, herb and native plant seeds to share. Leave with new varieties to try. Share knowledge and experience about seed saving and starting plants from seed.”
Held on the last Saturday in January, National Seed Swap Day serves as “a reminder that spring is on the way,” say its creators. For most gardeners, late January is a perfect time to take stock of their seed supply while considering what to grow this spring, summer and fall.
Swapping seeds is as old as farming; so is saving seeds to grow or swap with others. Think of it as green recycling. Not only does seed swapping and sharing increase the diversity of the plants you grow, it saves money, too.
Bring envelopes and a pencil or pen to label your seed acquisitions. Bring your own seeds to swap or share, too.
Fair Oaks Branch Library is located at 11601 Fair Oaks Blvd. in Fair Oaks.
For more details: https://www.facebook.com/events/1789593944880108.
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Garden Checklist for week of May 19
Temperatures will be a bit higher than normal in the afternoons this week. Take care of chores early in the day – then enjoy the afternoon. It’s time to smell the roses.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. If you haven’t already, it’s 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.
* 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.
* Don’t forget to water. Seedlings need moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants.
* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. 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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