'Summer Strong' contest seeks beautiful landscapes that can take the heat
This is image is from the Regional Water Authority's new water-wise gardening campaign. Courtesy Regional Water Authority
Is your water-wise garden ready for a close-up? Here’s your chance to put a regional spotlight on your lawn-less landscape and inspire other residents throughout the greater Sacramento area.
Local water providers are searching for transformed gardens to feature in an upcoming advertising campaign dubbed “Summer Strong.” In particular, the campaign focuses on beautiful, low-water alternatives to thirsty turf such as vibrant native plants and ways to save water including drip irrigation.
Sponsored by the Regional Water Authority (RWA), the “Summer Strong” contest invites Sacramento-area residents to nominate their water-wise yard (or a neighbor’s) online at BeWaterSmart.info/SummerStrong for a chance to be featured on digital billboards throughout the Sacramento region in July and August. Entrants will be eligible to win gift cards from local nurseries.
“The contest is a fun way to showcase what others are doing to create beautiful, water-wise yards ready to take our summer heat,” said Amy Talbot, RWA’s Water Efficiency Program Manager. “We’re looking for a variety of examples, from small-scale projects and do-it-yourself initiatives to larger landscapes and professional designs.”
The deadline to enter is May 31. Eligible entrants must be customers of one of RWA’s member agencies. The RWA includes about two dozen local water providers from Sacramento to El Dorado Hills and Roseville to Elk Grove.
The campaign encourages residents to make their front and backyards “Summer Strong” – “tough enough to muscle through the Sacramento region’s hottest days and still look their best.” That includes such smart gardening practices as watering trees efficiently, adding low-water and native plants, checking soil moisture before turning on sprinklers, installing a WaterSense-labeled smart sprinkler timer and watering plants in the morning to reduce evaporation.
Learn more about creating a “Summer Strong” landscape and enter the contest today at BeWaterSmart.info/SummerStrong.
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Garden Checklist for week of April 21
This week there’s plenty to keep gardeners busy. With no rain in the immediate forecast, remember to irrigate any new transplants.
* Weed, weed, weed! Get them before they flower and go to seed.
* April is the last chance to plant citrus trees such as dwarf orange, lemon and kumquat. These trees also look good in landscaping and provide fresh fruit in winter.
* 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.
* Spring brings a flush of rapid growth, and that means your garden is really hungry. Feed shrubs and trees with a slow-release fertilizer. Or mulch with a 1-inch layer of compost.
* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.
* 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.
* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.
* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.
* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, 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.
* Mid to late April is about the last chance to plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.
* Transplant lettuce seedlings. Choose varieties that mature quickly such as loose leaf.
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