Yolo master gardeners also offer in-person workshop
Growing vegetables outside your back door is easy, healthy and fun. Learn about edible gardening this weekend from the Yolo County master gardeners. Kathy Morrison
The pandemic forced so many meetings and workshops onto Zoom, but these online calls proved to have an up-side: They could easily draw folks from all over. So Zoom continues as a viable option for master gardener presentations.
This Saturday from 10 to 11 a.m. the Yolo County master gardeners will hold their monthly “Kitchen Garden Chat” on Zoom, so you needn’t be in Woodland or Davis to participate.
The workshop will cover what to do and plant in the February edible garden. Information to be covered includes how to read a seed packet, determining saved seed viability, and chores for fruit trees and grapevines.
The event is free and open to the public. The Zoom link is https://ucanr.zoom.us/j/98028723763
However, Zoom isn’t your comfort zone, you might drop in on an in-person session on “Gardening for Year Round Meals,” also this Saturday, from 11 a.m. to noon at Grace Garden behind Davis Methodist Church, 1620 Anderson Road in Davis.
“Gardening for Year Round Meals” is led by Yolo County master gardener Karen Slinkard. She plans to discuss starting seeds indoors for warm-season crops, what to plant outdoors in February, growing fresh herbs and how to use them, planning and enjoying edible flowers, and how to include the highly nutritious winter produce in your meals.
This event also is free and open to the public. “Gardening For Year Round Meals” meets on the second Saturday of every month, at 11 a.m. For more information, contact Slinkard at kslinka@gmail.com.
For all the Yolo County master gardener activities, see their website at https://yolomg.ucanr.edu/
– 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.