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Harvest Day 2020 will be online, live and on video


Grapes on a vine
You can pay a virtual visit to the grapevines at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center this year. Master gardeners will have video demonstrations on many topics, including "Pests of the Vineyard." (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Coronavirus risk prompts master gardeners to adapt popular event


Did you attend Harvest Day last year? The celebration of all things growing typically packs in gardeners and wanna-be gardeners to the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center, where the UCCE Sacramento County master gardeners maintain a gorgeous demonstration garden and orchard. Speakers, demonstrations and booths are part of the usual schedule.

The event's alway held on the first Saturday of August. It'll happen this year, too, on Aug. 1 -- but with a significant COVID-19 pivot: Everything will be online, either live or videotaped.

The two main speakers will be on video, and their presentations will be available for viewing starting in mid-July. The topics and speakers are:

-- "Building Resilient Gardens," Karrie Reid, environmental horticulture adviser for UCCE San Joaquin County. She also is a trainer of landscape professionals in sustainable practices including the Green Gardener Qualification Training series.

-- "Growing Fruit in Limited Space Using Size Control," Ed Laivo,  fruit tree and edible landscaping specialist. Formerly with Dave Wilson Nursery, he is now sales and marketing director at Burchell Nursery, Oakdale.

Then on Aug. 1 there will be a live Q&A with each of them: Reid from 9 to 9:50 a.m. and Laivo from 10 to 10:50 a.m. Those will be followed by a live Q&A panel with some Sacramento County master gardeners.

And what of the demos that usually happen at Harvest Day? Typically there are so many you can't get to them all. But this year, that will be possible because they all will be taped. Check out this list of planned videos:

General:
-- Tour of Fair Oaks Horticulture Center

Berries:
-- Netting

Composting:
-- Getting Started with Composting
-- Composting ABCs
-- Composting Hot and Cold
-- Worm Composting
-- Worm Harvesting

Herbs
-- Lavender: Pruning and Harvesting
-- Growing Herbs in Containers

Orchard
-- Fruit Thinning
-- Fruit Tree Pruning
-- Fruit Tree Scale

Vegetables
-- Straw Bale Gardening
-- Sharpening Pruners
-- Soil Solarization
-- Abiotic Tomato Issues
-- Veggies in Containers

Vineyard
-- Pests of the Vineyard

Water-Efficient Landscape
-- Pruning Perennials
-- Pruning Ornamental Grasses
-- Gardening for Wildlife
-- Walking Tour

The coolest thing about this is that all the videos will be available after Harvest Day, too. Permanent resources for Sacramento-region gardeners!

Harvest Day 2020 also will mark the start of online sales of the next Gardening Guide and Calendar, a great resource for Sacramento-area gardeners. (Excellent gift, too.) The theme of the 2021 guide is Trees.

A limited number of botanically dyed scarves also will go on sale as part of the Harvest Day activities.

To download the Harvest Day 2020 brochure, go here . To read more about the UCCE Sacramento County master gardener program and the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center, go to http://sacmg.ucanr.edu/ .









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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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Find our summer recipes here!

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.

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Starting in seed starting

Why winter is the perfect time to plant fruit trees

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How to squeeze more food into less space

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Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Win the weed war by tackling them in winter

Tips for planting bare-root trees, shrubs and vegetables

Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

Ways to win the fight against weeds

FALL

Add asparagus to your edible garden

Soggy soil and what to do about it

Plant artichokes now; enjoy for years to come

It's late November, and your peach tree needs spraying

What to do with all those fallen leaves?

Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden

Plant a pea patch for you and your garden

As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers

Change is in the autumn air 

We don't talk (enough) about beets

Fava beans do double duty

Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?

How to prolong the fall tomato harvest 

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Time to shut it down? 

How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch

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To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?

: Put worms to work for you

Grow food while saving water

Enhance your food with edible flowers

Why won't my tomatoes turn red?

A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty

Does this plant need water?

 Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions

How to grow summer salad greens

 Weird stuff that's perfectly normal

SPRING

Help pollinators help your garden

Battling early-season tomato pests

Make your own compost

Where are the bees when you need them?

How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days

Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can

Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success

What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?

Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

Grow culinary herbs in containers

When to plant summer vegetables

Don't be fooled by these garden myths

Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth