Don't make a home for disease-carrying pests; take precautions
Raising awareness of these plants is a statewide effort
Soil Born offers hands-on workshop in its American River Ranch orchard
Free workshop covers how to grow, harvest and use this popular herb
Sacramento Center for Textile Arts celebrates International Yarn Bombing Day
NEW No cooking involved in this seasonal creation
With more coolish weather ahead, there's still time to plant for summer
Yolo master gardeners present an online and in-person chat Saturday
That's 1,825 posts and counting -- all related to local gardening
SDG's Debbie Arrington among experts at Fair Oaks event
See Poswalls' Springhill near Lincoln and a hidden Newcastle oasis
Learn how to grow, enjoy this favorite flowering herb
NEW Sunny strawberry-Meyer lemon preserves without added pectin
Make most of mild Memorial Day weekend weather
How to make the most now of our unusual spring combination
Free compost available to residents in pilot recycling program
Huge sale and educational event set for Memorial Day weekend in Elk Grove
Also on tap: Guided tour of Capitol Park trees
Too much of a good thing can break tree branches in summer
NEW Ricotta and lemon zest give brunch dish some tang
Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.
Sites We Like
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.