Master gardeners have many short and workshop-length films for our climate
Watch the "Orchid-Mania" Zoom workshop recorded by the Placer County master gardeners earlier this month, one of dozens of gardening videos by and available for the region's gardeners. Screenshot via Placer County master gardener YouTube channel
Oh, gee, is the garden soggy today. No point in trying to do anything but dump out water accumulated in saucers and (oops) buckets.
But frightful weather is a great excuse to stay inside and watch those garden videos you’ve been meaning to get to.
A quick warning on videos, however: If they’re filmed in Michigan, Florida or New Jersey, for example, they might include inaccurate advice for Northern California gardening, the Sacramento region specifically. After all, much of the country is under snow or ice right now, and those of us in the valley and lower foothills are not – a perfect example of why our gardening year is so different.
Conveniently, the master gardeners of Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado and Yolo counties have made many video resources available, including filming their own gardening-tip YouTube videos or past workshops. Here’s a quick summary of pertinent ones for this time of year, plus links to the various video libraries:
– Sharpening Hand Pruners. It’s pruning season, so make sure those pruners are clean and sharp. (Under 5 minutes)
– Pruning Woody Sages. This video includes summer and winter pruning; the latter is important so sages grow back beautifully and not too rangy in spring. (Under 3 minutes)
– Make Your Garden Wildlife Friendly. This dovetails (if you’ll pardon the pun) with my blog post from last week, A lively natural habitat includes birds. (9 minutes)
– Shopping for Bareroot Fruit Trees. This is a Dave Wilson Nursery video hosted on the Sacramento site. (Under 7 minutes)
– Straw Bale Gardening. Plan your straw-bale garden now with the help of this recorded workshop. (31 minutes)
– Orchid-Mania. Workshop on how to choose and care for orchids. (66 minutes)
– Full pdf list of workshop videos with links. The pdf also includes links to printable handouts associated with the workshops.
– Pruning Hybrid Roses. (Under 7 minutes)
– List of slide presentations. Done webinar-style, each about 1 hour.
– Garden Allies. Recorded workshop on critters in the garden. (1 hour 22 minutes)
– YouTube channel for UCCE Central Sierra, which includes El Dorado and Amador counties
The various master gardener groups will start up workshops and open garden days again in January, beginning at the end of next week. Be sure to check out their websites (those links on the counties’ names) for event schedules.
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Garden Checklist for week of April 21
This week there’s plenty to keep gardeners busy. With no rain in the immediate forecast, remember to irrigate any new transplants.
* Weed, weed, weed! Get them before they flower and go to seed.
* April is the last chance to plant citrus trees such as dwarf orange, lemon and kumquat. These trees also look good in landscaping and provide fresh fruit in winter.
* 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.
* Spring brings a flush of rapid growth, and that means your garden is really hungry. Feed shrubs and trees with a slow-release fertilizer. Or mulch with a 1-inch layer of compost.
* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.
* 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.
* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.
* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.
* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, 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.
* Mid to late April is about the last chance to plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.
* Transplant lettuce seedlings. Choose varieties that mature quickly such as loose leaf.
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