Sacramento master gardeners host Open Garden Day
The vegetable garden at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center will a showcase of cool-season vegetables at Open Garden Day, as in this photo from an earlier February. Kathy Morrison
Get ready for spring with expert advice from Sacramento County master gardeners.
On Saturday, Feb. 11, the master gardeners will host Open Garden Day at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center in Fair Oaks Park – rain or shine. Admission and parking are free.
From 9 a.m. to noon, watch master gardeners as they tend to mid-winter tasks and prepare for spring planting and rapid growth. They’ll also host several hands-on demonstrations including:
* Berries: Learn how blueberries and cane berries are pruned for the upcoming harvest season.
* Compost: Building, turning and harvesting compost. Visit the Worm Bin, too.
* Herbs: See Herbs flourishing in the cooler weather.
* Orchard: Bare branches in the orchard show proper pruning cuts.
* Vineyard: See canes getting ready to bud. Learn pruning basics.
* Vegetables: Cool-season vegetables are on display in raised beds.
* WEL: The water-efficient landscape will be full of overwintering beneficial insects ready for pests.
Got a garden mystery, problem pest or puzzling plant? Bring photos and/or samples (in a sealed plastic zipper bag) to the Ask a Master Gardener table.
Fair Oaks Horticulture Center is located at 11549 Fair Oaks Blvd., Fair Oaks.
Details and directions: https://sacmg.ucanr.edu.
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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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