In-person Harvest Day returns Aug. 6 after 3 years

Pam Bone, who was a key speaker at Harvest Day 2019, will be back this year to talk about "Selecting Trees for the Home Landscape in a Changing Climate." (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Three years is a long time for a gardener. That's enough time to grow 3 crops of garlic and 3 of snap peas, for a stick to turn into a lush grapevine, or for a navel orange tree go from a flush crop to a poor year and back to flush. It represents a lot of compost into the bin.

Since August 2019, when they last held an in-person Harvest Day, the Sacramento County master gardeners have not been idle. Two virtual Harvest Days, with live online talks and several recorded videos, were presented in 2020 and 2021. In-person Open Garden Days started back slowly last fall.

But Harvest Day is the biggest event of the master gardener year, and to have it back -- and happening in just nine days -- is a mark of survival. (My own master gardener class of 2020 has never worked the event live; we are looking forward to finally adding it to our MG experiences.)

So it's a great day to come out to the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 6. Here's a taste of what's in store at this big, free celebration of gardening:

Speakers:

8:30 – 9:15 a.m. “Selecting Trees for the Home Landscape in a Changing Climate,” Pam Bone, Horticulturist, UC Master Gardener

9:45 – 10:30 a.m. “Healthy Soil/ Soil Preparation for a Healthy Landscape,” Kevin Marini, UC Master Gardener Coordinator Placer/Nevada Counties

11:00 – 11:45 a.m.  “Make Your Landscape Wildlife Friendly,” Roxie Jones, UC Master Gardener, FOHC Wildlife Garden Lead