Fair Oaks Horticulture Center to be open Saturday, March 8
See what's starting to bloom at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center on Saturday morning during Open Garden Day. Kathy Morrison
March in the Sacramento region is the ramping-up month for spring gardening. An ideal place to find inspiration, advice and answers to seasonal gardening questions is Open Garden Day, to be held Saturday, March 8, at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center.
Sacramento County master gardeners will be on site from 9 a.m. to noon, rain or shine, ready to talk about their favorite topics. Emphasis in the garden this month includes how to:
-- Divide plants to propagate them;
-- Cut back perennials before spring growth;
-- Get started with compost;
-- Measure and adjust soil pH for blueberries;
-- Prune grapevines by cane or spur methods.
Gardeners are welcome to roam the Horticulture Center, which also includes an orchard (check out the new avocado plantings), a vegetable garden (preparing for spring veggie planting) and an herb garden (pruning the scented geraniums).
Visitors can also bring their plant and pest questions (and bagged samples, if possible) to the "Ask the Master Gardeners" table for answers.
The Fair Oak Horticulture Center is located south of the Fair Oaks Library and Fair Oaks Park, 11549 Fair Oaks Blvd.
Open Garden Days generally happen once a month; the next one will be Wednesday, April 9, from 9 a.m. to noon. See the full 2025 schedule here.
In between, the master gardeners on Saturday, March 22, will present a class on worm composting; deadline to sign up in Monday, March 10.
The class runs 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the UCCE Office Auditorium, 4145 Branch Center Road, Sacramento. Cost is $35, open to ages 13 and up. Space is limited. Each participant will receive educational materials, a worm bin with bedding, red wiggler worms and adoption papers. Registration link and more information can be found here.
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Food in My Back Yard Series
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 March 16
Make the most of dry breaks between showers. Your garden is in high-growth mode.
* Pull weeds now! Don’t let them get started. Take a hoe and whack them as soon as they sprout.
* Prepare vegetable beds. Spade in compost and other amendments.
* Prune and fertilize spring-flowering shrubs after bloom.
* Feed camellias at the end of their bloom cycle. Pick up browned and fallen flowers to help corral blossom blight.
* Feed citrus trees, which are now in bloom and setting fruit. To prevent sunburn and borer problems on young trees, paint the exposed portion of the trunk with diluted white latex (water-based) interior paint. Dilute the paint with an equal amount of cold water before application.
* Feed roses with a balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10, the ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium available in that product).
* Prune and fertilize spring-flowering shrubs and trees after they bloom. Try using well-composted manure, spread 1-inch-thick under the tree (but avoid piling it up around the trunk). This serves as both fertilizer and mulch, retaining moisture while cutting down on weeds.
* Cut back and fertilize perennial herbs to encourage new growth.
* In the vegetable garden, transplant lettuce and cole family plants, such as cauliflower, broccoli, collards and kale.
* Seed chard and beets directly into the ground. (To speed germination, soak beet seeds overnight in room-temperature water before planting.)
* Before the mercury starts inching upward, this is your last chance to plant such annuals as pansies, violas and primroses.
* Plant summer bulbs, including gladiolus, tuberous begonias and callas. Also plant dahlia tubers.
* Shop for perennials. Many varieties are available in local nurseries and at plant events. They can be transplanted now while the weather remains relatively cool.
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