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

Keep your trees healthy: Learn correct pruning


Here's an example of how not to prune a tree: The street side of this fruitless mulberry
has been hacked
but the residence side still has all its canopy. This was done in July, at the
height of summer,
rather than during winter dormancy. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)
Free workshops on the winter calendar

Is there anything in horticulture sadder than a badly pruned tree? Poor pruning practices weaken trees and make them dangerous to people and structures.

Learn proper techniques for pruning landscape trees this Saturday, Jan. 11, from 2 to 3 p.m. at the Pocket Greenhaven Library, 7335 Gloria Drive, Sacramento.

This free workshop will be presented by the UCCE master gardeners of Sacramento County. It's an indoor class that will cover tools and techniques as well as basic cuts. The master gardeners also will discuss the best time of year to prune to ensure your trees heal properly.

For more information on master gardener workshops and events, go to
sacmg.ucanr.edu .

The Sacramento Tree Foundation, naturally, has a wealth of information on pruning advice at its website, sactree.com .

The foundations's next available pruning workshop is Saturday, Feb. 1, 8:45 a.m. to 11 a.m. at Garden Valley Elementary School, 3601 Larchwood Drive, Sacramento. It includes an indoor classroom portion and outdoor field training to practice pruning in small groups on young trees.

There is no charge for the workshop, but anyone interested is asked to sign up ahead of time. See their page here to do so.

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

square-tomatoes-plate.jpg

Find our summer recipes here!

Thanks to Our Sponsor!

Cleveland sage ad for Be Water Smart

Local News

Ad for California Local

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Strawberries

Find our spring recipes here!

Garden Checklist for week of July 21

Your garden needs you!

* Keep your vegetable garden watered, mulched and weeded. Water before 8 a.m. to reduce the chance of fungal infection and to conserve moisture.

* Feed vegetable plants bone meal, rock phosphate or other fertilizers high in phosphate to stimulate more blooms and fruiting. (But wait until daily high temperatures drop out of the 100s.)

* Don’t let tomatoes wilt or dry out completely. Give tomatoes a deep watering two to three times a week.

* Harvest vegetables promptly to encourage plants to produce more. Squash especially tends to grow rapidly in hot weather. Keep an eye on zucchini.

* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushy plants and more flowers in September.

* Remove spent flowers from roses, daylilies and other bloomers as they finish flowering.

* Pinch off blooms from basil so the plant will grow more leaves.

* Cut back lavender after flowering to promote a second bloom.

* It's not too late to add a splash of color. Plant petunias, snapdragons, zinnias and marigolds.

* From seed, plant corn, pumpkins, radishes, winter squash and sunflowers.

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Muffins and pumpkin

Find our fall recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Lemon coconut pancakes

Find our winter recipes here!