At a festival or in a backyard, citrus is a great crop
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| Satsuma mandarins herald the local citrus harvest. Learn about growing citrus from the El Dorado County master gardeners on Nov. 20. (Photo: Kathy Morrison) |
The Mountain Mandarin Festival is coming, Nov. 19-21, which means the orange fruit of the moment is no longer pumpkins.
The Satsuma mandarins ripening now will be followed shortly by clementines, navel oranges, blood oranges, Cara Cara oranges, tangelos, and all the many other citrus fruits that will brighten the days until spring.
If you've ever wanted to grow your own citrus -- or already do but are perplexed by your plant's habits -- the El Dorado County master gardeners are here to help. They will offer a free online class, "Growing Citrus," 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Saturday Nov. 20.
The class is appropriate for novice and experienced citrus gardeners. Master gardener Phyllis Lee will address citrus pests, handling cold weather, harvesting and other tips for success, applicable to other areas as well as El Dorado County.
Reserve a spot by signing up here .
The Mountain Mandarin Festival, which celebrates the crop and the growers of Placer County, will return to much of its usual level of activity this year, after dialing down last year in the face of coronavirus concerns. Hours are this year 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Nov. 19; 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday Nov. 20, and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 21.
Mandarin-based food of all kinds will be sold, in addition to bags and bags of fresh mandarins. (Some growers do sell online, by the way, if you are reluctant to buy in person.)
The festival also includes live music all three days, a Miss Mandarin pageant and, on Sunday, a Run for the Mandarins. Contests will not include cooking, but will include mandarin packing (Friday), mandarin juicing (Saturday) and mandarin peel-and-eat (Sunday).
The festival will be at the Gold Country Fairgrounds, 209 Fairgate Road in Auburn. Tickets are $10 general admission, $6 for seniors, and free for children under 12. Friday's admission is a special price of $5. A limited number of all-weekend passes are available for $19. Tickets can be purchased ahead of time online here ; an online fee is additional.
To keep everyone safe healthy, Placer County recommends that all festival attendees wear a mask.
The festival website, with many more details, is mandarinfestival.com .
-- Kathy Morrison
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Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series
FALL
Nov. 11: Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden
Nov. 4: Plant a pea patch for you and your garden
Oct. 27: As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers
Oct. 20: Change is in the autumn air
Oct. 13: We don't talk (enough) about beets
Oct. 6: Fava beans do double duty
Sept. 30: Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?
Sept. 23: How to prolong the fall tomato harvest
SUMMER
Sept. 16: Time to shut it down?
Sept. 9: How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch
Sept. 2: Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning
Aug. 26: To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?
Aug. 19: Put worms to work for you
Aug. 12: Grow food while saving water
Aug. 5: Enhance your food with edible flowers
July 29: Why won't my tomatoes turn red?
July 22: A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty
July 15: Does this plant need water?
July 8: Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions
July 1: How to grow summer salad greens
June 24: Weird stuff that's perfectly normal
SPRING
June 17: Help pollinators help your garden
June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests
June 3: Make your own compost
May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?
May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days
May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can
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
WINTER
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 Nov. 16
During breaks in the weather, tackle some garden tasks:
* Clear gutters and storm drains.
* Prune dead or broken branches from trees.
* After the storm, seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.
* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.
* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.
* Plant garlic and onions.
* Plant bulbs at two-week intervals to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.
* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.
* 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 them. Do leave some (healthy) leaves in the planting beds for wildlife and beneficial insect habitat.
* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.
* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.
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