Placer County master gardeners offer free workshop on bare-root fruit trees
Apples such as these Granny Smiths require a certain number of "chill hours" for best fruit quality. In a Feb. 8 workshop, learn about choosing the best bare-root fruit trees for your particular area. Debbie Arrington
Choosing the right variety makes a huge difference in that tree’s future success. Many fruit trees need chilly nights in order to produce blossoms and eventually a good crop. And with fewer chill hours come changes in recommendations.
If you’re considering adding fruit to your landscape or expanding your backyard orchard, this class is for you. Placer County master gardeners will present the latest UC research as well as their own expertise.
Set for 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, at Loomis Library, “Fruit Tree Selection and Dormant Planting” will cover the basics plus a lot more. Admission and parking are free. No registration is required.
“Have you ever wondered what kinds of fruit trees would be best in your garden?” ask the master gardeners. “This class is for you if you are interested in learning the five most important steps that ensure flourishing fruit trees.”
Those steps include:
* Selecting the right varieties;
* Understanding the importance of chill requirements;
* Attracting pollinators for your fruit trees;
* Learning successful bare-root planting techniques; and
* Knowing how to increase the variety of your fruit trees.
Also on Feb. 8, the Placer County master gardeners will host their monthly “Open Garden” from 10 a.m. to noon at the their demonstration garden adjacent to the library. Fruit trees are part of that new garden.
Loomis Library and Community Education Center is located at 6050 Library Drive, Loomis.
For more details and directions: https://pcmg.ucanr.edu/
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Garden Checklist for week of Feb. 2
During this stormy week, let the rain soak in while making plans for all the things you’re going to plant soon:
* During rainy weather, turn off the sprinklers. After a good soaking from winter storms, lawns can go at least a week without sprinklers, according to irrigation experts. For an average California home, that week off from watering can save 800 gallons.
* February serves as a wake-up call to gardeners. This month, you can transplant or direct-seed several flowers, including snapdragon, candytuft, lilies, astilbe, larkspur, Shasta and painted daisies, stocks, bleeding heart and coral bells.
* In the vegetable garden, plant Jerusalem artichoke tubers, and strawberry and rhubarb roots.
* Transplant cabbage and its close cousins – broccoli, kale and Brussels sprouts – as well as lettuce (both loose leaf and head).
* Indoors, start peppers, tomatoes and eggplant from seed.
* Plant artichokes, asparagus and horseradish from root divisions.
* Plant potatoes from tubers and onions from sets (small bulbs). The onions will sprout quickly and can be used as green onions in March.
* From seed, plant beets, chard, lettuce, mustard, peas, radishes and turnips.
* Annuals are showing up in nurseries, but wait until the weather warms up a bit before planting. Instead, set out flowering perennials such as columbine and delphinium.
* Plant summer-flowering bulbs including cannas, calla lilies and gladiolus.
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