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. 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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Food in My Back Yard Series
June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests
June 3: Make your own compost
May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?
May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days
May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can
May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success
April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?
April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)
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 June 8
Get out early to enjoy those nice mornings. There’s plenty to keep gardeners busy:
* Warm weather brings rapid growth in the vegetable garden, with tomatoes and squash enjoying the heat. Deep-water, then feed with a balanced fertilizer. Bone meal or rock phosphate can spur the bloom cycle and help set fruit.
* Generally, tomatoes need deep watering two to three times a week, but don’t let them dry out completely. Inconsistent soil moisture can encourage blossom-end rot.
* It’s not too late to transplant tomatoes, peppers or eggplant.
* From seed, plant corn, melons, pumpkins, radishes, squash and sunflowers.
* Plant basil to go with your tomatoes.
* Transplant summer annuals such as petunias, marigolds and zinnias.
* It’s also a good time to transplant perennial flowers including astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia, salvia and verbena.
* Feed camellias, azaleas and other acid-loving plants. Mulch to conserve moisture and reduce heat stress.
* Cut back Shasta daisies after flowering to encourage a second bloom in the fall.
* Trim off dead flowers from rose bushes to keep them blooming through the summer. Roses also benefit from deep watering and feeding now. A top dressing of aged compost will keep them happy. It feeds as well as keeps roots moist.
* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushier plants with many more flowers in September.
* Tie up vines and stake tall plants such as gladiolus and lilies. That gives their heavy flowers some support.
* Dig and divide crowded bulbs after the tops have died down.
* Feed summer flowers with a slow-release fertilizer.
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