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A gift that keeps giving: Annual garden guide/calendars

Support your local master gardeners while sharing valuable tips

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED DEC 1, 2020

The Placer County master gardeners' Gardening Guide and

Calendar is geared toward foothill gardening and weather

patterns. (Photo courtesy pcmg.ucanr.org )

Show your love for the experts who help make us all better gardeners: Our local master gardeners!

At the same time, spread the joy of gardening – or become a more knowledgeable gardener yourself.

In honor of Giving Tuesday, support your county’s UC Cooperative Extension master gardener program while also picking up a perfect gift.

Two local programs have just the ticket for both donations and gift giving: Annual garden guides and calendars.

These publications are major fundraisers for the Placer County and Sacramento County master gardener programs. But with fewer live events during pandemic restrictions, the sale outlets for these publications are fewer, too.

Current interest in gardening continues to grow, and that’s made the 2021 editions much sought-after.

“Some of our vendors have already sold out,” reports Pauline Sakai of the Placer County master gardeners.

With the theme “Smart Choices for Gardening Success,” this is the 29th edition of the Placer master gardeners’ award-winning calendar and garden guide, geared towards foothill gardening and weather patterns.

Featuring planting, growing and harvesting tips, the 13-month calendar and guide includes in-depth articles for every season. Among the topics: Soil testing, planting bare-root berries and trees, how to choose the right tools for the job, seed saving, planting for small spaces and how to help bees.

Priced at $10, the calendar is available at several nurseries and gardener-friendly locations in Placer, Nevada and El Dorado counties. Check the website http://pcmg.ucanr.org/2021_Calendar/ for an updated list of locations to buy the calendar.

Sacramento's 2021 publication looks up -- at trees.
(Photo courtesy sacmg.ucanr.edu )

Meanwhile, Sacramento County focused its 2021 gardening guide and calendar on a favorite Sacramento topic: Trees!

Also priced at $10, the large vertical-format calendar features a beautiful photo (and growing information) of an appropriate tree each month.

It’s packed with gardening tips and appropriate reminders, geared to seasonal tasks. Planting charts and other useful information are also included. Get yours at http://sacmg.ucanr.edu/Gardening_Guide/ or from the vendors listed on the website.

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Keywords:

UCCE master gardeners seasonal advice Sacramento calendar garden guide trees Placer County planting schedule gifts for gardeners Sacramento County gardening advice

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Garden Checklist for week of April 21

This week there’s plenty to keep gardeners busy. With no rain in the immediate forecast, remember to irrigate any new transplants.

* Weed, weed, weed! Get them before they flower and go to seed.

* April is the last chance to plant citrus trees such as dwarf orange, lemon and kumquat. These trees also look good in landscaping and provide fresh fruit in winter.

* Smell orange blossoms? Feed citrus trees with a low dose of balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) during bloom to help set fruit. Keep an eye out for ants.

* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.

* Thoroughly clean debris from the bottom of outdoor ponds or fountains.

* Spring brings a flush of rapid growth, and that means your garden is really hungry. Feed shrubs and trees with a slow-release fertilizer. Or mulch with a 1-inch layer of compost.

* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.

* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.

* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.

* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.

* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, radishes and squash.

* Plant onion sets.

* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias.

* Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.

* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom.

* Mid to late April is about the last chance to plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.

* Transplant lettuce seedlings. Choose varieties that mature quickly such as loose leaf.

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