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Get great advice for container gardening in free workshop

Placer County master gardeners offer class in person and via Zoom


Pot of orange and purple flowers
Container plants can add bright color
where you need it. Learn about container
gardening in person or online this Saturday.
(Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Container gardening can turn any outdoor (or indoor) space into garden space.

Learn how to successfully garden in pots during a free workshop offered both in person and via Zoom.

Hosted by the UCCE Master Gardeners of Placer County, “Container Gardening” will be held at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, April 2, at the Loomis Library, 6050 Library Drive, Loomis. Or check in on Zoom; pre-register here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register .

“Container gardening is a great solution if you don’t have a suitable garden space,” say the master gardeners. “This workshop will cover choosing the right container, plant selection tips, transplanting and more. Learn how to be successful growing ornamental plants, as well as fruit and vegetables.”

The hand-outs for this workshop – including tips, getting started and trouble shooting – are already available online here: https://pcmg.ucanr.org/?calitem=527826&g=123640 ,

Among the excellent tips:

• Anything that can hold soil and has at least one drainage hole (two to three holes are better) can serve as a planter. Often “found” unconventional items make excellent pots.
• When using pots that have contained other plants, you may want to use a 10% bleach solution to disinfect your container and tools. This solution is active for 20 minutes; it's best not to store the solution.
• Large containers retain more moisture than small ones. This is especially true with hanging baskets.
• Grouping containers together is an attractive way to display potted plants.
• Use soil-less mix for containers. Commonly known as potting soil, there is no soil in this mix.

That’s just a slice of the advice that will be presented Saturday.

Details and upcoming workshops: https://pcmg.ucanr.org/ .

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Garden Checklist for week of June 8

Get out early to enjoy those nice mornings. There’s plenty to keep gardeners busy:

* Warm weather brings rapid growth in the vegetable garden, with tomatoes and squash enjoying the heat. Deep-water, then feed with a balanced fertilizer. Bone meal or rock phosphate can spur the bloom cycle and help set fruit.

* Generally, tomatoes need deep watering two to three times a week, but don’t let them dry out completely. Inconsistent soil moisture can encourage blossom-end rot.

* It’s not too late to transplant tomatoes, peppers or eggplant.

* From seed, plant corn, melons, pumpkins, radishes, squash and sunflowers.

* Plant basil to go with your tomatoes.

* Transplant summer annuals such as petunias, marigolds and zinnias.

* It’s also a good time to transplant perennial flowers including astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia, salvia and verbena.

* Feed camellias, azaleas and other acid-loving plants. Mulch to conserve moisture and reduce heat stress.

* Cut back Shasta daisies after flowering to encourage a second bloom in the fall.

* Trim off dead flowers from rose bushes to keep them blooming through the summer. Roses also benefit from deep watering and feeding now. A top dressing of aged compost will keep them happy. It feeds as well as keeps roots moist.

* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushier plants with many more flowers in September.

* Tie up vines and stake tall plants such as gladiolus and lilies. That gives their heavy flowers some support.

* Dig and divide crowded bulbs after the tops have died down.

* Feed summer flowers with a slow-release fertilizer.

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