Free class offered through City of Roseville program
The kindest cut? Learn how to keep shrubs and trees healthy with proper pruning techniques. Kathy Morrison
Winter has another month or so to run, sigh. With the weather less conducive to being out in the garden all day, it's a great time to take a class.
The City of Roseville has scheduled a full program of garden-related workshops this spring, all free. They fill up quickly, but here's one that is coming up soon and is still available: "Pruning With Purpose." There were 10 spots remaining on the registration site today.
The class runs from 10 a.m. to noon this Saturday, Feb. 15, in Mahany Park at the Martha Riley Community Library, 1501 Pleasant Grove Blvd., Roseville.
"Local arborist Lani Houck from Roseville Urban Forest Foundation (RUFF) will walk you through the purpose and techniques of pruning," the Roseville website notes. "In this hands-on workshop, we will explore how to make proper pruning cuts, when to prune, how to prune different forms of trees and shrubs, and what tools to use. These principles will help you gain confidence to prune all types of trees and plants."
Since we invest so much time and money in our trees and other landscape plants, this is an invaluable course for gardeners. Ever seen a badly pruned tree trying to correct itself? A sad sight, indeed.
For questions about the workshop, call the Roseville Utility Exploration Center front desk at (916) 746-1550.
Take note of some other season-appropriate garden education events soon, all free:
-- A hands-on rose pruning workshop will also be this Saturday, outdoors at the El Dorado master gardeners' Sherwood Demonstration Garden in Placerville. (Rain date is Feb. 22.) Runs 9 a.m. to noon. Registration is requested but not required. Register here.
-- Then on Feb. 22 the El Dorado master gardeners will present "Spring and Summer Vegetable Gardening," 9 a.m. to noon at the Cameron Park Community Center, 2502 Country Club Drive, Cameron Park. Register here.
-- "Right Tree, Right Place" is offered Saturday, Feb. 22, by the Yolo County master gardeners. Runs 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in the classroom of the Arboretum Teaching Nursery on the UC Davis campus. Registration required; space is limited. Information and sign-up link here.
-- Roseville in March is offering two workshops: "DIY Drip Irrigation" on March 8 and "Choosing the Right Tree" on March 15. Space is available in both. The full spring schedule can be found here.
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Garden Checklist for week of April 20
Before possible showers at the end of the week, take advantage of all this nice sunshine – and get to work!
* Set out tomato, pepper and eggplant transplants.
* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, radishes and squash.
* Plant onion sets.
* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias.
* Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.
* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom.
* Plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.
* Transplant lettuce and cabbage seedlings.
* Smell orange blossoms? Feed citrus trees with a low dose of balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) during bloom to help set fruit. Keep an eye out for ants.
* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.
* Thoroughly clean debris from the bottom of outdoor ponds or fountains.
* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.
* Spring brings a flush of rapid growth, and that means your garden is really hungry. Give shrubs and trees a dose of a slow-release fertilizer. Or mulch with a 1-inch layer of compost.
* Start thinning fruit that's formed on apple and stone fruit trees -- you'll get larger fruit at harvest (and avoid limb breakage) if some is thinned now. The UC recommendation is to thin fruit when it is about 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Peaches and nectarines should be thinned to about 6 inches apart; smaller fruit such as plums and pluots can be about 4 inches apart. Apricots can be left at 3 inches apart. Apples and pears should be thinned to one fruit per cluster of flowers, 6 to 8 inches apart.
* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.
* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.
* Weed, weed, weed! Don’t let unwanted plants go to seed.
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