Find veggies, perennials and more at fundraising plant sales
This mural points the way to Luther Burbank High School's Urban Garden (BUG), which hosts a plant sale each spring of student-raised veggies, flowers and herbs. This year's is on April 5. Kathy Morrison
March is the warm-up, but April is the true peak of spring garden events in the Sacramento region. Plant sales continue, to be followed later in the month by the first wave of garden tours.
All these events are fundraisers for schools or nonprofit organizations. The plant prices typically are bargains, and the tours are worth the cost for the inspiration they provide.
Here's a look at the sales in April. We'll have more on each as the dates approach. (And we'll write about the tours in a post next week.)
-- Saturday, April 5, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Burbank (High School) Urban Garden's spring plant sale should be an especially joyous one this year. The school's Urban Agriculture Academy in January was threatened with closure, but now -- thanks to a huge outpouring of community support -- it will live on as a full three-year academy program. Look for summer veggies, herbs and many flowers, all raised by the students. 3500 Florin Road, Sacramento. https://www.facebook.com/BurbankUrbanGarden
-- The UC master gardeners of Yolo County hold the first of two plant sales in Woodland on April 5 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Woodland Community College, 2300 E. Gibson Road. Expect vegetables -- including more than 30 varieties of tomatoes -- native plants, bulbs, succulents and more.
-- Sunday, April 6. UC Davis Arboretum's second spring sale is a split sale: The first hour, at 9 a.m., is for Friends members only, then at 10 a.m. the gate is opened for members of the public. The sale concludes at 1 p.m. The updated plant inventory should be available soon.
-- Saturday, April 12, might as well be National Plant Sale Day. Four local sales are on tap, starting off with the American River College Horticulture Department's Spring Sale, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Vegetables, annual flowers, succulents, perennials and more. All plants are student-grown. Credit cards accepted. Proceeds benefit the Horticulture program. Sale is in the Environmental Resource area, northeast corner of campus, just southeast of the new MTC building and south of Parking lot A on Myrtle Ave. American River College is at 4700 College Oak Drive, Sacramento.
--Also on April 12, the UC master gardeners of El Dorado County present the first of two spring sales, 8 a.m. to noon at their Sherwood Demonstration Garden, 6699 Campus Drive, Placerville. Edibles are up first, including tomatoes, herbs and fruit. Parking at the site is $2.
-- The Elk Grove Garden Club will hold its Spring Plant Sale on April 12 as well. 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., 8609 Brodie Ct., Elk Grove. Sacramento County master gardeners are among the propagators of plants for this sale. Always an intriguing selection, including some unusual plants.
-- Also on April 12 is the second of the Yolo County master gardeners' sales in Woodland. Same hours and location as the first: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Woodland Community College, 2300 E. Gibson Road.
-- Friday, April 18. The first of two days for the Sacramento Perennial Plant Club's Spring Sale, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 1911 Bannon Creek Drive, Sacramento (South Natomas area). Continues April 19, same times. This sale is known for its terrific selection of member-propagated plants and is held in a great setting. The plants for sale include vegetables, native plants and, of course, perennials.
-- Saturday, April 19. Those busy Yolo master gardeners join the community plant sale in Winters, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Winters Community Library Teaching Garden, 708 Railroad Ave., Winters. Winters FFA students will have tomato and pepper starts for sale. Pollinator plants grown by Garden volunteers and Morningsun Herb Farm will be available, and The Succulent Lady will have succulents to purchase.
-- Saturday, April 26. The third spring sale of the UC Davis Arboretum Teaching Nursery is open to everyone, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
-- April 26 also is the date for the second half of the El Dorado master gardeners' Spring Plant Sale, 8 a.m. to noon. This one will feature ornamentals and native plants.
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Food in My Back Yard Series
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
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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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