Find hundreds of indoor plants in rare varieties at Shepard Center event
Recipe: Easy cake can be gluten-free, too
Sunny, clear and not-too-hot days make for good planting weather
Timeless Thrills in East Sac hosts pop-up event featuring pottery, cactus and succulents -- plus a talk
Sacramento master gardeners staff Horticulture Center for Open Garden Day
Check drip system is working when plant shows sign of dehydration
Find hundreds of unusual, colorful shade-loving plants at free event
Let nature give you a hand; recycle fallen leaves -- and dig bigger holes
Recipe: Grilled chicken breasts with watermelon salsa
Make the most of this cool end of summer; start your fall garden
They only look scary (and they eat lots of bugs)
It's a Sisyphean battle, but don't surrender
Red Flag Warning means be cautious; what Sacramento-area gardeners need to know
Community Garden hosts free composting workshop
Placer County master gardeners offer expertise at several locations during the month
Recipe: Roasting the tomatoes adds extra flavor
August ends on a warm note, but cooler days coming soon
Triple-digit temperatures can keep tomatoes from turning full red, says Farmer Fred
Native plants, Arboretum All-Stars and more will be offered
El Dorado County master gardeners offer free workshop
Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.
Thanks to Our Sponsor!
Local News
Sites We Like
Garden Checklist for week of Dec. 29
It's prime pruning weather. After Sunday's rain, get to work!
* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.
* Now is a prime time to prune fruit trees. (But not cherry or apricot trees -- they're susceptible to the fungus Eutypa dieback in wet weather; save those for July or August.) Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease.
* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.
* Prune Christmas camellias (Camellia sasanqua), the early-flowering varieties, after their bloom. They don’t need much, but selective pruning can promote bushiness, upright growth and more bloom next winter. Feed with an acid-type fertilizer. But don’t feed your Japonica camellias until after they finish blooming next month. Feeding while camellias are in bloom may cause them to drop unopened buds.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* Apply horticultural oil to fruit trees soon after a rain to control scale, mites and aphids. Oils need 24 hours of dry weather after application to be effective.
* This is also the time to spray a copper-based fungicide to peach and nectarine trees to fight leaf curl. (The safest, effective fungicides available for backyard trees are copper soap -- aka copper octanoate -- or copper ammonium, a fixed copper fungicide. Apply either of these copper products with 1% horticultural oil to increase effectiveness.)
* When forced bulbs sprout, move them to a cool, bright window. Give them a quarter turn each day so the stems will grow straight.
* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.
* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.
* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.
* Plant bare-root roses, trees and shrubs.
* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.
* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.
* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.
* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranunculus and gladiolus for bloom from late spring into summer.
* Plant blooming azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons. If you’re shopping for these beautiful landscape plants, you can now find them in full flower at local nurseries.
Powered by California Local
