Sacramento Digs Gardening logo
Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

Trees take focus in fall

Want to help? Sacramento Tree Foundation has many activities

Tree with orange and yellow leaves
Trees in many colors -- one of the great things about the outdoors in fall. Help
plant trees or learn more about them through the Sacramento Tree
Foundation. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Trees are the stars of fall. Their changing colors demand notice, giving the landscape new looks every day as the green leaves turn to red or gold or orange, and then drop to the ground. A fluffy tree one day -- looking at you, gingko -- can be a sketch of itself the next.

Fall is the best time to plant trees, too. The soil still is warm, which allows roots to grow, but the air temperatures are moderate, so the young tree isn't under heat stress.

The Sacramento Tree Foundation is in the midst of its fall neighborhood tree planting and care events, and welcomes volunteers of any age, with or without tree-planting experience.

-- Sierra Woods, Folsom, 8:45 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Nov. 6. Trees will be planted at several residents' homes.

-- Fisherman's Lake, Natomas, 1-4 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 7. This is a mulch-spreading event for the native trees that were planted at the site a few years ago.

-- Jordan Family Park, Elk Grove, 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Nov. 13. This is a reforestation activity for the park, with native trees to be planted along a bike path. Mulching also will be done.

-- Old North Sacramento, 8:45 a.m. to 1 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 11. This event will add street trees to the neighborhood.

If you'd prefer to look and learn about some of Sacramento's trees, and have a bike available, this Sunday the SacTree folks are leading a tour of the Hollywood Park neighborhood's trees starting at 1 p.m. It will conclude at 5 p.m. at Two Rivers Cider.

And SacTree on Nov. 20 plans an acorn harvesting day from 9 a.m. to noon. Location is still TBA.

Register for all SacTree activities at https://www.sactree.com/events .

Meanwhile, here are some things to remember when planting trees:

-- Don't plant a tree too deep. The "root flare" should be at or slightly above the soil line to keep the tree from suffocating. The planting hole should be no deeper than the actual rootball, but it should be wide.

-- Remove the nursery stake. It's there only to protect the tree during transit -- it's not meant to be left on while the tree grows, and actually can limit its growth.

-- If stakes are necessary to keep the tree upright, there should be a pair of them, each about 18 inches away from the trunk, attached with loops that let the tree sway. That's how it gets stronger! Then remove the stakes after a year or two, depending on its growth.

These and other tips for tree-planting can be found at sactree.com/howtoplant and, for fruit trees specifically, in this UC Agriculture and Natural Resources publication, https://anrcatalog.ucanr.edu/pdf/8048.pdf .


Comments

0 comments have been posted.

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Lemon coconut pancakes

Find our winter recipes here!

Thanks to Our Sponsor!

Cleveland sage ad for Be Water Smart

Local News

Ad for California Local

Garden Checklist for week of Feb. 9

Be careful walking or working in wet soil; it compacts easily.

* Keep the irrigation turned off; the ground is plenty wet with more rain on the way.

* February serves as a wake-up call to gardeners. This month, you can transplant or direct-seed several flowers, including snapdragon, candytuft, lilies, astilbe, larkspur, Shasta and painted daisies, stocks, bleeding heart and coral bells.

* In the vegetable garden, plant Jerusalem artichoke tubers, and strawberry and rhubarb roots.

* Transplant cabbage and its close cousins – broccoli, kale and cauliflower – as well as lettuce (both loose leaf and head).

* Indoors, start peppers, tomatoes and eggplant from seed.

* Plant artichokes, asparagus and horseradish from root divisions.

* Plant potatoes from tubers and onions from sets (small bulbs). The onions will sprout quickly and can be used as green onions in March.

* From seed, plant beets, chard, lettuce, mustard, peas, radishes and turnips.

* Annuals are showing up in nurseries, but wait until the weather warms up a bit before planting. Instead, set out flowering perennials such as columbine and delphinium.

* Plant summer-flowering bulbs including cannas, calla lilies and gladiolus.

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Strawberries

Find our spring recipes here!

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

square-tomatoes-plate.jpg

Find our summer recipes here!

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Muffins and pumpkin

Find our fall recipes here!