Yolo County master gardeners offer free workshop via Zoom
White peaches ripen on the tree within easy reach of picking. Summer pruning can help keep fruit trees compact and more productive. Debbie Arrington
Fruit trees can be perplexing for backyard gardeners – especially when (and how) to prune.
Here’s an opportunity to learn a lot without leaving home.
At 3 p.m. Thursday, May 23, the Yolo County Master Gardeners will host a Zoom presentation devoted to “Summer Fruit Tree Care and Pruning.” The free one-hour workshop is open to the public, no matter where they live.
“Did you know that there are benefits to pruning fruit trees in the summer?” ask the hosts. “Join experienced UCCE Master Gardener-Yolo Bonnie Berman for ‘Summer Fruit Tree Care and Pruning’ and learn the reasons for and the ‘how to’ of pruning in the summer.”
Pruning actually encourages growth. It’s also an opportunity to shape the tree, remove diseased wood and improve the health of the tree. Pruning at the right time can help set up a good harvest the following year.
For the Zoom link, contact Joan Tuss at Joan.Tuss@yolocounty.org.
Details: https://yolomg.ucanr.edu/.
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Garden Checklist for week of Jan. 12
Once the winds die down, it’s good winter gardening weather with plenty to do:
* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.
* Now is the time to prune fruit trees. (The exceptions are apricot and cherry trees, which are susceptible to a fungus that causes dieback. Save them until summer.) Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease.
* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* After the wind stops, apply horticultural oil to fruit trees to control scale, mites and aphids. Oils need 24 hours of dry weather after application to be effective.
* This is also the time to spray a copper-based fungicide to peach and nectarine trees to fight leaf curl. (The safest effective fungicides available for backyard trees are copper soap -- aka copper octanoate -- or copper ammonium, a fixed copper fungicide. Apply either of these copper products with 1% horticultural oil to increase effectiveness.)
* When forced bulbs sprout, move them to a cool, bright window. Give them a quarter turn each day so the stems will grow straight.
* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.
* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.
* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.
* Plant bare-root roses, trees and shrubs.
* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.
* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.
* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.
* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranunculus and gladioli for bloom from late spring into summer.
* Plant blooming azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons. If you’re shopping for these beautiful landscape plants, you can now find them in full flower at local nurseries.
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