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We're looking at a busy weekend

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED SEP 5, 2019

"Designing Dragonflies," a class to make this vase,

will be taught 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Friday by Brenda
Blackwelder during the Gourd and Fine Art Festival.
(Photo courtesy amadorgourdartists.com)

Foothills locations offer gourd festival, fair, garden tour

Made plans yet for the weekend? (Beyond tending your garden, of course.) You could head for the hills: Several sites in the foothills hold events with interest for gardeners:

-- The 2019 Gourd and Fine Art Festival will be held at the Amador Flower Farm & Nursery. The event features classes, vendors, demonstrations, food trucks and the California Gourd Society competition. The classes are on Friday, Saturday or Sunday, and as of this morning four of the six still had seats left; go to www.amadorgourdartists.com to check on availability. The Saturday and Sunday events run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. The Amador Flower Farm & Nursery is at 22001 Shenandoah School Road in Plymouth. www.amadorflowerfarm.com

-- The Sherwood Demonstration Garden, an amazing site tended by the UCCE El Dorado County master gardeners, offers its free monthly tour Saturday at 9 a.m. sharp. The garden has 16 different areas, from rose garden to rock garden, with flowers, shrubs and trees that do well in the Placerville-area climate. Stick around after the tour and visit the Community Observatory next to the garden. From 10 a.m. to noon, the Hydrogen-Alpha telescopes will be set up to allow visitors to safely view sunspots, solar flares, filaments, and solar prominences. $2 parking (exact change required) seven days a week. Folsom Lake College El Dorado Center, 6699 Campus Drive, Placerville. mgeldorado.ucanr.edu

-- For a traditional agriculture experience, visit the Gold Country Fair, starting today at the fairgrounds in Auburn and running through Sunday. Lovers of hot peppers may want to note the Pepper Eating Contest at noon Saturday. The fairgrounds are at 1273 High St., Auburn. Parking is $6. For more fair info and tickets, go to http://www.goldcountryfair.com/fair/

There are other weekend activities we've posted about earlier, but here are reminders. (Click on the link to read the post):

-- The Rose Propagation Workshop is 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the Historic City Cemetery, Sacramento.

-- Rebecca Plumb talks houseplants and design at Green Acres in Rocklin at 10 a.m. Saturday.

-- The American Begonia Society Convention will be in full swing from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Sacramento Northeast.

-- Kathy Morrison

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Keywords:

UCCE master gardeners gardening Sacramento workshops family events events El Dorado County Amador Flower Farm Placer County classes designing with plants

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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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