Daily gardening blog reaches its sixth anniversary -- thanks to our readers!
This citrus cake is ideal for any celebration. See the blog post for a link to the recipe. Kathy Morrison
Happy birthday to us! It’s time for cake!
On Saturday (June 1), Sacramento Digs Gardening celebrates its sixth anniversary. Since June 1, 2018, we’ve posted (at least) one original story every day to our website. And with technology willing, almost all of those stories went out the same day as our e-newsletter.
That’s 2,191 blog posts – all devoted to local gardening and homegrown food.
We started Sunday recipes early on in this journey (July 2018) and now have more than 300 recipes posted online. To make them easier to access for our readers, we broke them down into four seasonal e-cookbooks that are also available online. That series started with “Taste Spring!” and continued with compilations for Summer, Fall and Winter.
Did I mention readers can access all this for free? No paywall, no fees; just good solid local information at your fingertips. We truly are news you can use.
Because all gardening is local, and gardeners need vetted local expertise for the best chances at success.
Your SDG team – Debbie Arrington and Kathy Morrison – are that kind of experts. We obviously care deeply about Sacramento-area gardening because that’s where we garden, too.
Over the years, we’ve developed SDG into the kind of gardening blog we’d like to read: Packed with events and information about what we need to know now. (And then, what to do with all that fruit and vegetables we grew.)
What keeps us writing and posting? Our readers. We now have about 2,500 followers on Facebook who are looking for us every day. Our average Facebook readers tend to be a lot like us: Women over age 60. (In fact, 83% of our Facebook followers are female and, like Facebook in general, tend to skew toward boomers.)
But Facebook is just one way people find SDG. Thanks to our sponsor Green Acres Nursery & Supply, nursery customers can find direct links to our website and recipes via new signs with QR codes.
We also see a lot of readers from our web host, CaliforniaLocal.com, and from search engines. According to its data, “Sacramento Digs Gardening” showed up in 23,823 Google searches since December 2022 when we migrated to the CaliforniaLocal.com platform. Our website has had more than 141,000 page views since that move, too. That’s almost 8,000 page views a month. Thank you, California Local!
To keep going and growing, SDG needs sponsors. We’re thankful for Green Acres’ support as well as that of our original sponsor, the Regional Water Authority/BeWaterSmart.info, and its “Summer Strong” campaign.
We’re always looking for more sponsors. (If you’re interested, reach out directly to us at sacdigsgardening@gmail.com.)
Later this summer, you can meet us in person on Aug. 3 at the Sacramento County master gardeners’ annual Harvest Day at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center in Fair Oaks Park. (More on that as we get closer to the event.)
Meanwhile, what about that cake? Try our zesty one-bowl citrus cake. (Recipe here: https://sacdigsgardening.californialocal.com/article/30939-spring-recipes-from-sacramento-digs-gardening-california/884-desserts-and-sweets/10242-celebrate-spring-with-citrus-cake/)
And thank you for reading!
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Garden Checklist for week of Dec. 8
Make the most of dry weather while we have it this week. Rain is returning.
* Rake leaves away from storm drains and gutters. Recycle those leaves as mulch or add to compost.
* It’s not too late to plant something. Seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.
* Trees and shrubs can be planted now, especially bare-root varieties such as fruit trees or rose bushes. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from winter rains.
* Plant bare-root berries, kiwifruit, grapes, artichokes, horseradish and rhubarb.
* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.
* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.
* Brighten the holidays with winter bloomers such as poinsettias, amaryllis, calendulas, Iceland poppies, pansies and primroses.
* Keep poinsettias in a sunny, warm location; bring them inside at night or if there’s rain.
* Plant garlic and onions.
* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while they’re dormant.
* Clean and sharpen garden tools before storing for the winter.
* Mulch, water and cover tender plants to protect them during threat of frost. Succulent plants are at particular risk if temperatures drop below freezing. Make sure to remove coverings during the day.
* Rake and remove dead leaves and stems from dormant perennials.
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