Two-hour class Saturday at Community Garden and Learning Center
This vast stretch of lettuce and other greens is grown via hydroponic techniques at the Gotham Greens farm site west of Davis. But a gardener needn't have a space this size to use hydroponics to grow food such as strawberries, tomatoes or peppers. Kathy Morrison
When it comes right down to it, plants don't even need soil to grow, as long as they get water, light and nutrients.
That's the science behind hydroponics, which is the cultivation of plants in a nutrient-rich solution.
The Elk Grove Community Garden and Learning Center this Saturday, June 1, will host "Hydroponics 101," a free class to be taught by Eric Goegen, from 10 a.m. to noon.
Gardeners interested in the workshop are asked to RSVP to (916) 818-9108, but walk-ins are welcome. No fee is charged, although donations of canned goods for the Elk Grove Food Bank are appreciated.
The Elk Grove Community Garden is located at 10025 Hampton Oak Drive. For more information on the garden and events there, go to https://elkgrovecommunitygarden.org/
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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3
November still offers good weather for fall planting:
* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.
* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.
* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.
* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.
* Plant garlic and onions.
* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.
* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.
* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.
* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.
* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.
* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.
* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.
* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.
* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.