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Learn about Sierra foothill gardening at Open Garden Days

El Dorado County master gardeners offer advice for growing vegetables, fruit, flowers and more at higher elevations

Master gardeners will demonstrate all sorts of garden tasks while answering questions during Open Garden Days at Sherwood Demonstration Garden.

Master gardeners will demonstrate all sorts of garden tasks while answering questions during Open Garden Days at Sherwood Demonstration Garden. Courtesy of UC Master Gardeners of El Dorado County

Garden in the Sierra foothills can be challenging; just ask anyone who has deer for neighbors.

Higher elevations can go from too cold to plant to too hot to grow in only a few weeks. (Sometimes, it feels overnight.)

What’s a foothill gardener to do?

Ask the UC Master Gardeners of El Dorado County. Every Friday and Saturday (weather permitting), the foothill gardening experts host Open Garden Days at Sherwood Demonstration Garden in Placerville. That includes Friday and Saturday, May 24 and 25. Admission is free.

From 9 a.m. to noon, master gardeners will be stationed in Sherwood’s demonstration stations to answer questions and tackle garden tasks. These experts teach by doing and the public is invited to watch.

“As Master Gardeners, we are committed to educating the general public on sustainable horticulture and pest management practices based on traditional, current, and evolving research,” say the hosts. “It is our goal that the Sherwood Demonstration Garden will provide the public with a hands-on, interactive experience about research-based, sustainable gardening practices specific to the west slope of El Dorado County, appropriate for all ages and cultures, and reflective of a variety of environments and gardening experiences.”
Of course, a lot of the information and experience applies to gardening throughout the foothills and greater Sacramento area. It’s also a lovely place to visit and gain inspiration.

“There are 16 individual demonstrations gardens ranging from the Shade Garden to the Rock Garden and everything in between!” say the master gardeners.

At 9 a.m. June 1, the master gardeners will host a “First Saturday Garden Tour,” with a guided walk through all 16 gardens.

Sherwood is located at 6699 Campus Dr, Placerville.

Details and directions: https://mgeldorado.ucanr.edu/.



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Garden Checklist for week of Feb. 2

During this stormy week, let the rain soak in while making plans for all the things you’re going to plant soon:

* During rainy weather, turn off the sprinklers. After a good soaking from winter storms, lawns can go at least a week without sprinklers, according to irrigation experts. For an average California home, that week off from watering can save 800 gallons.

* February serves as a wake-up call to gardeners. This month, you can transplant or direct-seed several flowers, including snapdragon, candytuft, lilies, astilbe, larkspur, Shasta and painted daisies, stocks, bleeding heart and coral bells.

* In the vegetable garden, plant Jerusalem artichoke tubers, and strawberry and rhubarb roots.

* Transplant cabbage and its close cousins – broccoli, kale and Brussels sprouts – as well as lettuce (both loose leaf and head).

* Indoors, start peppers, tomatoes and eggplant from seed.

* Plant artichokes, asparagus and horseradish from root divisions.

* Plant potatoes from tubers and onions from sets (small bulbs). The onions will sprout quickly and can be used as green onions in March.

* From seed, plant beets, chard, lettuce, mustard, peas, radishes and turnips.

* Annuals are showing up in nurseries, but wait until the weather warms up a bit before planting. Instead, set out flowering perennials such as columbine and delphinium.

* Plant summer-flowering bulbs including cannas, calla lilies and gladiolus.

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