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Happy Earth Day! 5 easy ways to celebrate

Helping the planet starts in our own space

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED APR 22, 2021

It's always nice to see a lady beetle at work in the garden.

(Photo: Kathy Morrison)

I like to think that the readers of this blog are planet-aware enough to already be using earth-friendly practices with their plants and with their gardens.

So let's celebrate Earth Day today by encouraging family, neighbors or friends to try one of these easy ways to help battered old Mother Earth:

-- Compost. All those kitchen scraps and fallen leaves that end up in the green waste or (horrors!) the trash bin could be working right at home. It really doesn't take much to create the "garden gold" that enriches the soil, just organic matter, water and air. Share this composting guide .

And if someone doesn't have space for a compost bin, they can try worm composting. Worms just need a big plastic bin and some bedding material, and they'll happily transform those potato peelings and apple cores into worm castings, which are MAGIC in the garden. Here's my blog post from last fall about my worm bin. (Those red wigglers are still going strong, by the way). And here's the Sacramento County master gardeners' guide to setting up a worm bin.

-- Feed the soil. That compost? Best thing a gardener can add to problem soil. It will help lighten clay and provide structure to sand, in addition to improving the soil's water-holding capacity. That in turn helps plants send out better, stronger roots. Worm castings spread over the top of the soil will leach down and improve it, too. Helping the soil always is a win-win proposition.

-- Plant something for the beneficials. Urban life is tough on all the small but important insects that make the outdoor world work, such as hoverflies, lacewings, damsel bugs and parasitic mini-wasps.And the rock star of the group, lady beetles. Many of them dine voraciously on the "bad bugs" -- so much better than using insecticides. So add to the garden some plants that give these little insects food and resting spots. Suggestions: Flowering herbs, cosmos, yarrow and goldenrod. See this list for more ideas.

-- Switch to natural fertilizers. Fertilizers are confusing to most people, so they grab whatever seems right, whatever the source. But one of the most important things I learned last year in master gardener classes is that while plants themselves don't care where their nutrients come from, the soil will care immensely . Chemical fertilizers boost the plants -- sometimes too much -- but do little to aid the soil or the microorganisms that live there. Look for fertilizers based on natural ingredients such as fish emulsion, alfalfa meal, chicken manure, blood meal and cottonseed meal. (I'm now one of those people who stands in the nursery aisle reading package ingredients.)

-- Plant a tree. It's an Earth Day cliché, but that's because it's true. Trees clean the air, anchor the soil, give shelter to birds and other wildlife, and provide shade to homes and gardens. Even a small one helps. The Sacramento Tree Foundation would be happy to help anyone choose the right tree .

Bonus way to celebrate that anyone can do: Take 5 minutes to discover something new in your garden. Explore the shapes of the oak leaves or marvel at the color gradations in a flower petal. It's an astonishing world and we are so lucky to be its caretakers.

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An article about gardening.

Keywords:

worms Sacramento soil structure trees Earth Day vermicomposting composting gardening garden gold herbs Sacramento Tree Foundation fertilizers beneficials

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Flowers in My Back Yard Series

Aug. 25: Crape myrtles, Sacramento's unofficial tree of summer

Aug. 18: Pollinators adore scabiosa, aka pincushion flower

Aug. 11: Hardy hibiscus adds big tropical impact

Aug. 4: Dianthus a deceptively hardy flower

July 28: Naked Ladies put on summer show

July 21: Thank Luther Burbank for these long-lasting beauties (Shasta daisies)

July 14: How to keep hydrangeas happy

July 7: Grow these bright cosmos for bees and butterflies

June 30: Agapanthus adds blue fireworks to the garden

June 23: Easy-care gazanias fill those hot corners

June 16: Daylilies are perfect for water-wise gardens (and a lot more)

June 9: Grow coneflowers for pollinators -- and yourself

June 2: Sunflowers capture Sacramento's summer attitude

May 29: Are your roses going 'blind'?

May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power

May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens

May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower

April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact

April 7: Calendulas do double duty

April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come

March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)

March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots

March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums

March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?

Feb. 24: Treasure spring daffodils now and for years to come

Feb. 17: How and why to grow wildflowers

Feb. 10: Let's talk Valentine's Day roses

Feb. 3: Why grow flowers?

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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

Send us a gardening question, a post suggestion or information about an upcoming event. sacdigsgardening@gmail.com

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