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At the State Fair Farm, education is the key crop

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED JUL 19, 2019

At the State Fair, pick up a map at The Farm's Passport booth, then find the stamps to earn a free piece of fresh fruit. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)

Learning opportunities are growing all over

Three young adult fairgoers were strolling along the back of the State Fair's Farm when one of the trio exclaimed "Tomatoes!" I was close enough to hear, and turned in the direction they were looking. Instead of a tomato vine, they were next to a dwarf nectarine tree, the purple-red side of its ripe fruit almost glistening in the midday heat.

The figs are doing well at The Farm.

One of the others corrected him, but it was a good reminder that not everyone knows what our fresh California produce looks like while it's growing. And that's why The Farm exists all year round, not just the two-plus weeks the State Fair is open. School tours visit in spring and fall, when kids can see up close the developing fruits and vegetables representative of the state's many crops.

During the fair's run, which concludes July 28, The Farm offers an interactive activity (and not just for kids). Pick up a map that will lead you to five stations to learn about lemons, mint, avocados, peaches and Fresno peppers. Get a stamp at each stop, bring the stamped map back to the main booth, and get a free piece of fresh fruit. (I got an apple.) On the back of the map there's a recipe for a salad using those five ingredients, plus a $5 coupon for Save Mart, which sponsors The Farm.

Great, but what is there for those of us who already know our tomato vines from our orchard trees? Well, I like to see from year to year what is planted at The Farm, how things are thriving, and whether there's anything there I would like to add to my plantings.

A few years ago, I became fascinated with the arbor of hops at The Farm. That later prompted me to grow my own hops, with some help (and a hop rhizome) from New Helvetia Brewing's HIMBY (Hops In My Back Yard) program. My hops aren't as extensive as the fair's, but they do cast some shade this year, which is lovely.

Look up under the kiwi trees to see their fuzzy fruit.

The Farm has many other learning opportunities for gardeners. Want to grow grapes? Grapevines, check. Kiwis? The interlocked kiwi trees are amazing. Figs are ripening on fig trees. There are gourds climbing trellises, and even cotton plants growing in one of the raised beds. Want to know how much space pumpkins or watermelons take up? Easy to see that here. The Farm's corn is doing well, as are the peppers, but the strawberry and blueberry plants looked a little beat-up in the heat -- they could use some shade cloth.

The demonstration garden also has several 6-foot aeroponic towers, incredible space-savers that grow herbs and vegetables with moisture forced up the towers by pressurized air. Topped by chard and basil, these looked more lush than last year -- a very impressive feature.

In another area, The Farm has a good display on planting a water-wise garden, complete with drip irrigation and mulch examples. And the Pollinator Garden is free entertainment, if you like to watch bees at work.

And I can't forget to mention the UCCE master gardeners, who staff an information booth in The Farm every day of the fair. Bring your gardening questions to these folks who are experts on growing in the Sacramento region.

My one suggestion to The Farm organizers: Put more California native plants in the landscape area, and label them as such. As much as I love "Hot Lips" salvia, which is a cultivar, I'd rather see less of that and more of a native salvia such as hummingbird sage, which is just as pretty. Natives thrive better in our climate anyway.

The State Fair is open daily through July 28 at Cal Expo, 1600 Exposition Blvd., Sacramento . Gates open at 10 a.m. Fridays-Sundays, 11 a.m. the other weekdays. Closing time is 10 p.m., though The Farm area shuts at 6 p.m. Fair general admission is $14, but $12 for seniors, $10 for ages 5-12 and free for kids 4 and under. Parking has shot up to $15, so bring cash for that.

For more information on the fair, go to www.castatefair.org .

At The Farm, hop bines run along an arbor behind this raised bed, which includes a couple of aeroponic towers, plus annual flowers and some squash plants. (That wilting is normal in the heat, by the way.)

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Keywords:

UCCE master gardeners Sacramento farms events Cal Expo agriculture irrigation orchards State Fair gardening vegetables native plants backyard produce pollinators water-wise gardening

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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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