El Dorado County master gardeners present free workshop
Palmer's dudleya is an example of a California native succulent that would do well in a small garden or in a container. Kathy Morrison
Interested in native plants but think you don’t have enough space? Meet some compact California natives that thrive in smaller spaces or containers during a free workshop, “There's a Native Plant for That: Gardening with Native Plants.”
Set for 9 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, this three-hour workshop will be held at Blackstone Community Center in El Dorado Hills and is open to interested gardeners from throughout the region.
Hosted by the UCCE master gardeners of El Dorado County, this class also features the expertise of members of the California Native Plant Society. They’ll cover the basics of native gardening in all spaces, big or small with special emphasis on smaller areas.
“Do you love native plants and wonder how you can enjoy them on your patio or in your smaller garden?” ask the master gardeners. “Join master gardeners and California Native Plant Society (CNPS) members Dolores Morrison, Kathleen Barco, and Ola Jane Gow and discover how to evaluate your yard to establish a native landscape, how to select and maintain plants, how to group plants by water needs, and, if you only have a small space, the best native plants for containers.
“There are native plants for every environment,” they add. “Come and learn with us!”
Registration is requested, though not required for this free class. Find the link here under “Master Gardener Calendar”: https://mgeldorado.ucanr.edu/.
Blackstone Community Center is located at 1461 Blackstone Parkway, El Dorado Hills.
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Food in My Back Yard Series
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 April 20
Before possible showers at the end of the week, take advantage of all this nice sunshine – and get to work!
* Set out tomato, pepper and eggplant transplants.
* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, radishes and squash.
* Plant onion sets.
* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias.
* Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.
* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom.
* Plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.
* Transplant lettuce and cabbage seedlings.
* Smell orange blossoms? Feed citrus trees with a low dose of balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) during bloom to help set fruit. Keep an eye out for ants.
* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.
* Thoroughly clean debris from the bottom of outdoor ponds or fountains.
* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.
* Spring brings a flush of rapid growth, and that means your garden is really hungry. Give shrubs and trees a dose of a slow-release fertilizer. Or mulch with a 1-inch layer of compost.
* Start thinning fruit that's formed on apple and stone fruit trees -- you'll get larger fruit at harvest (and avoid limb breakage) if some is thinned now. The UC recommendation is to thin fruit when it is about 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Peaches and nectarines should be thinned to about 6 inches apart; smaller fruit such as plums and pluots can be about 4 inches apart. Apricots can be left at 3 inches apart. Apples and pears should be thinned to one fruit per cluster of flowers, 6 to 8 inches apart.
* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.
* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.
* Weed, weed, weed! Don’t let unwanted plants go to seed.
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