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Get started on cool-season veggies

Online workshop tackles 'Broccoli, Lettuce & Kale, Oh My!'

Seed starting tray and seed packets
Still summer outside, but on the vegetable-planting calendar,
it's time for lettuce and other greens. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)


It’s time to think cool (and we don’t mean air conditioning).

During the heat of August while we’re still (hopefully) picking tomatoes, turn your attention to lettuce – plus other cool-season greens and winter vegetables.

Where to start – and how? Learn the basics during a free Zoom workshop at 9 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 28.

Presented by the UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners of Nevada County, this one-hour webinar will pay special attention to the challenges of cool-season gardening at higher elevations. But there will be plenty of tips and valuable information for gardeners in the Valley, too.

“Broccoli, Lettuce & Kale, Oh, My! Growing Cool-Season Vegetables in the Foothills” will discuss transitioning from summer to cool-season vegetables, planning, soil preparation, seed starting, planting and more. The master gardeners also will share secrets of extending summer veggies into late fall or winter and likewise stretching lettuce season deep into spring (and maybe even summer).

“It’s hot right now, and time for sitting in the shade and enjoying summer vegetables,” say the master gardeners in their workshop introduction. “And a great time for planning your cool season garden! Join us now to learn how to get broccoli, lettuce and kale from your garden in the winter and spring.

“What do you want to grow? We'll talk about cool-season garden planning and preparation, microclimates, season extenders and much more. Join us to learn how to keep your garden more fertile and productive almost year round.”

Anyone with an Internet connection is invited to Zoom in. No advance reservations are necessary.

For the link and more details:
http://ncmg.ucanr.org/ .

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Garden Checklist for week of May 18

Get outside early in the morning while temperatures are still cool – and get to work!

* 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. Transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.

* Plant dahlia tubers.

* 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.

* Are birds picking your fruit off trees before it’s ripe? Try hanging strips of aluminum foil on tree branches. The shiny, dangling strips help deter birds from making themselves at home.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.

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