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What a bargain: Master gardeners' 2021 Gardening Guide and Calendar

Still just $10, the publication this year focuses on trees

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED AUG 6, 2020

Tree branches and leaves on calendar cover

Is there anything that says Sacramento more
than a big, leafy, shady tree? (Calendar images
courtesy Jan Geier Fetler and Laura
Cerles-Rogers, UCCE master gardeners)

The final freeze of winter. The date I last fertilized the orange tree. The week it was so windy. The celebration of the first ripe tomato.

I always think I'll remember the dates, but of course I don't. What I do remember, now, is to write those gardening and weather events on the pages of my invaluable Gardening Guide and Calendar.

The UCCE Sacramento County master gardeners print this gem of a publication every year as a fundraiser, just in time for sales to start at Harvest Day. That event was online this year , of course, and so are the sales of the Gardening Guide. It can be ordered here, using a credit card, or shoppers can print out and mail in the order form with a check. All calendars will be mailed; a free package of poppy seeds is included with each order, while they last.

The 2021 theme is Trees, and the large vertical-format calendar features a beautiful photo of an appropriate tree each month. For example, January's is the 'Yosemite Gold' semi-dwarf mandarin, laden with ripe fruit, and March's tree (see image below) is the Western redbud, a California native with very low water requirements.

Each month also is filled with gardening tips and reminders for that time of year. Planting charts and other useful information pack the back of the calendar. It's like have a master gardener right there at your desk. There's also plenty of room for scribbling notes, thank goodness.

Buy a couple of Gardening Guides now and give them as gifts; I can't think of any Sacramento-area gardener who wouldn't love to have one.

This is the March tree and tips page from the Gardening Guide

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Harvest Day UCCE master gardeners gardening Sacramento trees California natives citrus trees landscape trees California 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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