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/
Comments
0 comments have been posted.Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.
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
Local News
Thanks to Our Sponsor!
Sites We Like
Garden Checklist for week of June 8
Get out early to enjoy those nice mornings. There’s plenty to keep gardeners busy:
* 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 or rock phosphate 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. Inconsistent soil moisture can encourage blossom-end rot.
* It’s not too late to transplant tomatoes, peppers or eggplant.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
Powered by California Local
