Planning, planting classes and videos offered by the area's master gardeners
Sacramento County master gardener Tamara Engel demonstrates how to prune a mature blueberry plant in a YouTube video. Screenshot from Sacramento County master gardeners' YouTube channel
We’re back to rain today (and likely Sunday) but even with wet conditions gardeners can still make progress the next several days toward their spring gardens. Choosing and starting seeds, for example, planning irrigation, or learning how to maximize planting spaces will all contribute to success.
The region’s master gardeners have three classes coming up that can help in those pursuits:
– “Gardening in Small Spaces,” 9 a.m. to noon, Wednesday, Feb. 8. This three-hour in-person class from the El Dorado County master gardeners will be held at the Cameron Park Community Center, 2502 Country Club Drive, Cameron Park. Master gardener Mike Pavlick will cover site location, design, raised bed options, container gardening and other methods that will allow anyone to have a vegetable garden in a small backyard setting. No pre-registration required. Information on the El Dorado master gardeners' events can be found here.
– “Growing Spring and Summer Vegetables,” Zoom online class, 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Feb. 11. El Dorado master gardener Zack Dowell will discuss garden plant selection, planting times, site selection, soil preparation, proper seed planting techniques, and pest management. Pre-registration is required to get the Zoom link. The registration link can be found under the class listing here: https://mgeldorado.ucanr.edu/Calendar/
– “Improving Water Efficiency in Your Garden,” in-person and Zoom workshop, 10:30-11:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 11. Presented by the Placer County master gardeners, it will include tips and resources for maximizing their water efficiency. Participants will gain water-wise ideas and visuals for transforming their landscape, organizers note. The in-person site is the Loomis Library, 6050 Library Drive, Loomis. The registration link for the simultaneous Zoom workshop can be found here.
Meanwhile, the Sacramento County master gardeners recently posted two helpful YouTube videos for this time of year: “Pruning Mature Blueberry Plants,” with master gardener Tamara Engel, and “Transplanting Nursery Plants for a Healthy Start” with master gardener Lisa Odom. Each is just 5 minutes, succinct and easy to repeat.
– Kathy Morrison
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Food in My Back Yard Series
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
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 June 15
Make the most of this “average” weather; your garden is growing fast! (So are the weeds!)
* Warm weather brings rapid growth in the vegetable garden, with tomatoes and squash enjoying the heat. Deep-water, then feed with a balanced fertilizer. Bone meal can spur the bloom cycle and help set fruit.
* Generally, tomatoes need deep watering two to three times a week, but don’t let them dry out completely. That can encourage blossom-end rot.
* From seed, plant corn, melons, pumpkins, radishes, squash and sunflowers.
* Plant basil to go with your tomatoes.
* Transplant summer annuals such as petunias, marigolds and zinnias. It’s also a good time to transplant perennial flowers including astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia, salvia and verbena.
* Pull weeds before they go to seed.
* Let the grass grow longer. Set the mower blades high to reduce stress on your lawn during summer heat. To cut down on evaporation, water your lawn deeply during the wee hours of the morning, between 2 and 8 a.m.
* Tie up vines and stake tall plants such as gladiolus and lilies. That gives their heavy flowers some support.
* Dig and divide crowded bulbs after the tops have died down.
* Feed summer flowers with a slow-release fertilizer.
* Mulch, mulch, mulch! This “blanket” keeps moisture in the soil longer and helps your plants cope during hot weather. It also helps smother weeds.
* Thin grapes on the vine for bigger, better clusters later this summer.
* Cut back fruit-bearing canes on berries.
* Feed camellias, azaleas and other acid-loving plants. Mulch to conserve moisture and reduce heat stress.
* Cut back Shasta daisies after flowering to encourage a second bloom in the fall.
* Trim off dead flowers from rose bushes to keep them blooming through the summer. Roses also benefit from deep watering and feeding now. A top dressing of aged compost will keep them happy. It feeds as well as keeps roots moist.
* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushier plants with many more flowers in September.
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