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Thankful for the gifts of the garden and gardening

A grateful pause on Thanksgiving

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED NOV 28, 2024

The navel orange tree should have a good crop this winter. The cold nights help sweeten the fruit. Photo: Kathy Morrison

Thanksgiving is such a busy day, mostly away from the garden. But before we plunge into winter, I like to stop and think of all the garden-related things I am grateful for. The following is an expansion of something I wrote a few years ago, but it still holds true. As gardeners, we receive many gifts:

-- Pollinators who do their thing in the garden without any prompting, and do even more with a little encouragement (and plants they love). From almonds to zucchini, California's crops and our home gardens depend on the bees, birds, butterflies, moths and other insects, and even a few four-legged creatures.
-- The trees that shade our homes, clean our air and give us organic matter in the fall, as well as provide food -- for us and for the wildlife -- as well as homes for birds and other creatures.
-- The magical soil below us, full of nutrients and microbes and earthworms and so many things we're not aware of as we walk over it or plant in it
-- Our gorgeous Mediterranean climate, which even as it's changing lets us work outside nearly year-round and grow so many things so well that we're the envy of the rest of the country's gardeners.
--The wonder of tiny seeds that turn into 2-pound tomatoes with just the right amount of tending. This never fails to amaze me every year.
-- Finally, the generosity of fellow gardeners, who give freely of seeds, plants, produce, tools and advice. (Looking at you especially, my master gardener friends.) If someone says, "Oh, you're a gardener, too!" you have instant rapport. It's a community to cherish -- an invaluable resource.

This Thanksgiving in particular, I'm thankful for the generous rainfall we've had this month, for the cold weather this week which will help sweeten the almost-ripe oranges, and the spectacular colors of the neighborhood trees -- soon to be valuable mulch or compost.

Enjoy your garden as the seasons change -- and rest up for the work ahead. Happy Thanksgiving!

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GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

Sacramento gardening holiday Thanksgiving fall November climate change weather edible gardens UC master gardeners trees mulch compost pollinators holiday traditions

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Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series

FALL

Nov. 11: Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden

Nov. 4: Plant a pea patch for you and your garden

Oct. 27: As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers

Oct. 20: Change is in the autumn air

Oct. 13: We don't talk (enough) about beets

Oct. 6: Fava beans do double duty

Sept. 30: Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?

Sept. 23: How to prolong the fall tomato harvest

SUMMER

Sept. 16: Time to shut it down?

Sept. 9: How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch

Sept. 2: Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning

Aug. 26: To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?

Aug. 19: Put worms to work for you

Aug. 12: Grow food while saving water

Aug. 5: Enhance your food with edible flowers

July 29: Why won't my tomatoes turn red?

July 22: A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty

July 15: Does this plant need water?

July 8: Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions

July 1: How to grow summer salad greens

June 24: Weird stuff that's perfectly normal

SPRING

June 17: Help pollinators help your garden

June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests

June 3: Make your own compost

May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?

May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days

May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can

May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success

April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?

April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

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

WINTER

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 Nov. 16

During breaks in the weather, tackle some garden tasks:

* Clear gutters and storm drains.

* Prune dead or broken branches from trees.

* After the storm, seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Plant bulbs at two-week intervals to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.

* 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 them. Do leave some (healthy) leaves in the planting beds for wildlife and beneficial insect habitat.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.

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