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

Gardening tidbits and previews for the Sacramento region

Save the date or bookmark the site

Espaliered fruit trees at Horticulture Center
Espaliered fruit trees lead to the vegetable garden at the Fair Oaks Horticulture
Center, a scene from the most recent Open Garden Day, Feb. 8, 2020.  The next one will be Sept. 11. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)

Lots of little tidbits are floating around that need to be collected somewhere this week, so why not here?

1) The weather forecast thankfully is milder this weekend than last. This is an excellent time to visit the El Dorado County master gardeners' Sherwood Demonstration Garden at the Folsom Lake College El Dorado Center, Placerville. Hours are 9 a.m. to noon Fridays and Saturdays when the morning forecast is 95 degrees or lower.  This weekend certainly qualifies.

The site features 16 individual themed gardens, including a Mediterranean Garden, Japanese Garden and a Children's Garden. A map of the garden and details on parking are here.

2) Speaking of gardens, the city of Woodland is constructing a rain garden in a corner of Crawford Park. Here's the description from the city website:

"The rain garden will divert stormwater from El Dorado Drive into a retention swale and includes a drought-tolerant demonstration garden and shaded seating area. Landscaping will include native, drought-tolerant, and pollinator-friendly plants suitable for sun and shade, as well as wet and dry conditions.  ...

"The rain garden will integrate 'green infrastructure' into the park, demonstrate how small-scale green infrastructure projects can work even in residential yards, and provide a venue for ongoing education about green infrastructure and sustainable gardening."

Here's the city's page on the project, with a map and more details. The Yolo County master gardeners are involved in this project.

3) Harvest Day will be virtual again this year, as I wrote a few weeks ago , but most of the videos created for it will be posted soon at the Sacramento County master gardeners' YouTube channel . Again, registrations are already being accepted for the live-online Q&A sessions and webinars planned for Aug. 7. This page has the links for registration and the full schedule.

Woman at strawberry bed, showing how to plant them
Master gardener Linda Sanford gives a demonstration on planting
strawberries during the Feb. 8, 2020, Open Garden Day.

4) The Sacramento master gardeners' first Open Garden Day since early 2020 is on the calendar for Sept. 11. It's planned as a low-key event, with limited staffing, but the fact that it's scheduled at all is very exciting.  Open Garden Days are held at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center, next to Fair Oaks Park, just south of the Madison/Fair Oaks Boulevard intersection.

There will be more information soon, but I do know attendees will be among the first members of the public to see the new Chuck Ingels memorial gate being installed this summer near the FOHC entrance. Chuck, a longtime UCCE farm and garden adviser who died in August 2018, was the driving force behind the Hort Center, and he is dearly missed. Here's the post Debbie wrote about Chuck after his memorial service.

-- Kathy Morrison

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Local News

Ad for California Local

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Strawberries

Find our spring recipes here!

Thanks to Our Sponsor!

Cleveland sage ad for Be Water Smart

Garden Checklist for week of June 15

Make the most of this “average” weather; your garden is growing fast! (So are the weeds!)

* 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 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. That can encourage blossom-end rot.

* 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.

* Pull weeds before they go to seed.

* Let the grass grow longer. Set the mower blades high to reduce stress on your lawn during summer heat. To cut down on evaporation, water your lawn deeply during the wee hours of the morning, between 2 and 8 a.m.

* 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.

* Mulch, mulch, mulch! This “blanket” keeps moisture in the soil longer and helps your plants cope during hot weather. It also helps smother weeds.

* Thin grapes on the vine for bigger, better clusters later this summer.

* Cut back fruit-bearing canes on berries.

* 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.

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!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Lemon coconut pancakes

Find our winter recipes here!