Amador Flower Farm hosts annual Daylily Days with tram tours and barbecue
Recipe: Fresh raspberry fool with a rosy twist
Red Flag Warning signals dry conditions, high fire danger
Placer County master gardeners show how to attract more beneficial insects, birds and bats (yes, bats) to your landscape.
Green Acres presents a free talk on ‘pollinator buffets’ Saturday
Sacramento County master gardeners invite public to watch and learn at free event.
After successful fight against Oriental fruit fly, Sacramento County now battles Japanese beetles, which were discovered in Carmichael.
Sacramento Bromeliad and Carnivorous Plant Society hosts 54th annual show and sale at Shepard Center.
New! Late-spring combination works for summer cookouts, too
Be ready for more triple-digit heat (but it won’t last).
Green Acres' irrigation experts show how to put right plants in the right place for water-wise success.
Placer County master gardeners offer free water-wise workshop at new Loomis Library demonstration garden.
Classic car meetup, Food Truck Mania also Thursday in Fair Oaks Park
Preservation group propagates rose varieties found, in some cases, nowhere else
Sacramento textile artists host colorful array at Shepard Center
New! Shrimp pot pie with fresh peas, carrots and spring onions
June starts with blast of summer heat (and warm nights)
Daily gardening blog reaches its sixth anniversary -- thanks to our readers!
Two-hour class Saturday at Community Garden and Learning Center
'Blind shoots' are the result of spring temperature fluctuations
Placer County master gardeners welcome public to experience their growing resource, now in spring bloom
Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.
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Garden Checklist for week of June 16
Summer officially starts Thursday. The good news: No triple-digits – at least until next weekend.
* Warm weather brings rapid growth in the vegetable garden, with tomatoes and squash enjoying the heat. Deep-water, then feed with a balanced fertilizer. Bone meal or rock phosphate can spur the bloom cycle and help set fruit.
* Generally, tomatoes need deep watering two to three times a week, but don't let them dry out completely. That can encourage blossom-end rot.
* Tie up vines and stake tall plants such as gladiolus and lilies. That gives their heavy flowers some support.
* Dig and divide crowded bulbs after the tops have died down.
* Feed summer flowers with a slow-release fertilizer.
* Mulch, mulch, mulch! This “blanket” keeps moisture in the soil longer and helps your plants cope during hot weather.
* Thin grapes on the vine for bigger, better clusters later this summer.
* Trim off dead flowers from rose bushes to keep them blooming through the summer. Roses also benefit from deep watering and feeding now. A top dressing of aged compost will keep them happy. It feeds as well as keeps roots moist.
* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushier plants with many more flowers in September.
* From seed, plant corn, pumpkins, melons, radishes, squash and sunflowers.
* Plant basil to go with your tomatoes.
* Transplant summer annuals such as petunias, marigolds and zinnias.
* It’s also a good time to transplant perennial flowers including astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia, salvia and verbena.