Students' portable food gardens compete
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This gingham-wrapped wheelbarrow is an example of the
portable gardens entered in the Sacramento County Fair. Note
the pictures of students around the bottom of the wheelbarrow. (Photo courtesy Sacramento County Fair) |
After a two-year hiatus, the Sacramento County Fair returns this week to Cal Expo – and so does one of its most popular garden-inspired events.
Dozens of portable gardens created by local students will compete in the fair’s “Farm Garden in a Wheelbarrow” contest.
“Farm Garden in a Wheelbarrow is an educational program designed to educate young children, grades K-6, about the importance of agriculture, where their food comes from and how it grows,” according to fair organizers.
Making that connection is vital for kids to understand so they have a better appreciation of food and farming, especially in the Farm-to-Fork Capital.
“If our children don’t understand where our food comes from, where will our food come from in the future?” say the organizers.
The program is open to both public and private schools as well as after-school programs, 4-H clubs and home school groups. Each wheelbarrow garden is a multi-month project, usually planted in winter or early spring.
What grows in a wheelbarrow? Just about anything that can sprout and root in a container. Among the favorite crops featured in these movable raised beds: Radishes, lettuce, peppers, tomatoes, beets, carrots, even corn -- plus several varieties of flowers and herbs.
Classrooms add their own often-whimsical touches to make their wheelbarrow garden stand out, such as photos of students, an over-sized fork or toy roller coaster. See for yourself; the competing gardens will be displayed in one of the fair exhibit halls.
Meanwhile, the fair will be packed with many old-time favorites such as livestock judging, horse show, free entertainment (including duck and pig races) and carnival rides. The fair also will unveil a new attraction: “Dinosaurs Throughout the Ages,” featuring life-size replicas as well as “living fossils” – real reptiles such as alligators and horned lizards.
The 86th annual Sacramento County Fair runs Thursday through Memorial Day, May 26-30. Fair hours are 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday-Sunday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday. Admission is $12; youth, ages 12-16, $10; children age 11 and younger admitted free. Seniors Day is Thursday with $8 admission for patrons age 60 and older. Parking is $10.
Cal Expo is located at 1600 Exposition Blvd., Sacramento.
Details and directions: www.sacfair.com .
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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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