Elk Grove, Orangevale each host information events
Learn how to grow pumpkins -- many times bigger than this one! -- during "Grow Orangevale Gardening Day" this Saturday. Elk Grove also will be the site of a garden information event, on both Saturday and Sunday. Kathy Morrison
The first spring weekend is ahead of us, but it's going to be rainy! Gee, and just as we were re-adjusting to getting dirt under our fingernails and wearing sun protection.
Well, here's how to make the best of it: This weekend, two free gardening information events will be held, one at either end of Sacramento County. Open to all, these events will be especially useful for beginning gardeners, but also should have good refresher information for experienced folks.
Ever wanted to grow a giant pumpkin? In Orangevale on Saturday, teen gardener and youth pumpkin weigh-off champion Sankalp Immadisetty will offer his tips as part of the "Grow Orangevale Gardening Day" event at the Orangevale Library.
From 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., "Grow Orangevale" will have a full slate of talks, as well as a plant and seed swap. (The public is welcome to bring plants or seeds to trade.)
Podcaster and lifetime master gardener "Farmer Fred" Hoffman will speak at 11 a.m., followed by Immadisetty and the Orangevale Farm & Garden Club at noon. A composting workshop with Lisa Christensen begins at 1 p.m., and the California Native Plant Society will give a presentation at 2 p.m.
The Orangevale Library is at 8820 Greenback Lane, Suite L, Orangevale.
In Elk Grove, meanwhile, the Elk Grove Community Garden and Learning Center will present a free "Gardening 101" class, 10 a.m. to noon. both Saturday and Sunday. "Learn to set up a garden big or small," say organizers. "Learn the importance of soil, water and sun."
RSVPs for this event can be called in to (916) 818-9108, but walk-ins also are welcome. The Elk Grove garden is at 10025 Hampton Oak Drive, Elk Grove.
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Food in My Back Yard Series
April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers
April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds
March 4: Potatoes from the garden
Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space
Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting
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Garden Checklist for week of April 20
Before possible showers at the end of the week, take advantage of all this nice sunshine – and get to work!
* Set out tomato, pepper and eggplant transplants.
* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, radishes and squash.
* Plant onion sets.
* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias.
* Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.
* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom.
* Plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.
* Transplant lettuce and cabbage seedlings.
* Smell orange blossoms? Feed citrus trees with a low dose of balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) during bloom to help set fruit. Keep an eye out for ants.
* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.
* Thoroughly clean debris from the bottom of outdoor ponds or fountains.
* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.
* Spring brings a flush of rapid growth, and that means your garden is really hungry. Give shrubs and trees a dose of a slow-release fertilizer. Or mulch with a 1-inch layer of compost.
* Start thinning fruit that's formed on apple and stone fruit trees -- you'll get larger fruit at harvest (and avoid limb breakage) if some is thinned now. The UC recommendation is to thin fruit when it is about 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Peaches and nectarines should be thinned to about 6 inches apart; smaller fruit such as plums and pluots can be about 4 inches apart. Apricots can be left at 3 inches apart. Apples and pears should be thinned to one fruit per cluster of flowers, 6 to 8 inches apart.
* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.
* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.
* Weed, weed, weed! Don’t let unwanted plants go to seed.
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