At day-long free event, experts offer advice to inspire spring gardening
Farmer Fred Hoffman will speak on spring gardening at 1 p.m. Saturday. Kathy Morrison
Does spring have your green thumb itching? Or do you need a little inspiration to go along with some expert advice?
Find it Saturday during “Grow Orangevale,” a special event aimed at introducing people of all ages to gardening. Set for Saturday, March 25, the free gardening event will be held at the Orangevale branch of the Sacramento Public Library. As an extra special treat, Farmer Fred Hoffman – host of the popular podcast, “Beyond the Garden Basics with Farmer Fred” – and rose and insect expert Baldo Villegas – Sacramento’s “Bug Man” – will be among the featured speakers.
“There’s no substitute for vegetables harvested from your own yard!” say the organizers. “This will be the topic of the presentations from UC Master Gardeners of Sacramento County. … Whether you have a sunny balcony or a spacious lot, you can enjoy produce grown mere steps from your own back door. Join us for this presentation and other gardening-related programs throughout the day.”
Events will be held from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with something for every gardener from beginner to veteran.
At 10 a.m., start with a community seed and plant swap. Patrons are urged to bring something from their garden – cuttings, seedlings, root divisions, seeds, etc. – and take something home to plant.
At 11:30 a.m., join Jesse Blacksher from the Orangevale Foodbank Farm and Nelson Kirk from the Orangevale Recreation and Park District as they answer your questions about organic gardening and caring for your trees.
That’s followed at noon by a native plant workshop. Colene Rauh from the California Native Plant Society will discuss the ecological importance of native plants in your landscape.
At 1 p.m., Sacramento County master gardener Andi McDonald will discuss the basics of starting and maintaining a home vegetable garden – what, when, and where to plant.
Then at 2 p.m., Farmer Fred – a lifetime master gardener – will present tips on spring gardening. The former radio host also will answer questions.
Rounding out the workshops at 3 p.m. will be Orangevale’s own Baldo Villegas, an award-winning Master Consulting Rosarian. Baldo, who grows thousands of roses at his Orangevale home, will discuss how to grow and care for roses in your landscape. A retired state entomologist, he also will discuss how pests and diseases affect roses and how we can control them.
The Orangevale branch library is located at 8820 Greenback Lane, Suite L, Orangevale.Details: https://sacmg.ucanr.edu/.
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Garden Checklist for week of Jan. 19
Dress warmly in layers – and get to work:
* Apply horticultural oil to fruit trees 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 oil 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.
* 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 the time to prune fruit trees. Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease. (The exceptions are apricot and cherry trees, which are susceptible to a fungus that causes dieback if pruned now. Save those until summer.)
* 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.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* 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 gladioli 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.
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