Planting, pruning, problems are focus of El Dorado County workshop
Hoping for a summer harvest like this? Learn how to grow tomatoes and peppers during a free workshop Saturday with the El Dorado County master gardeners. Kathy Morrison
Just about every summer vegetable gardener wants to grow tomatoes. Many also want to plant and harvest a multitude of sweet or hot peppers.
But success can be elusive. The plants don't produce flowers, or the flowers don't set. Hornworms find the fruit, or sunscald ruins it. Great hopes in the spring can turn into disappointment in the heat of midsummer.
The El Dorado County master gardeners know this, so they are offering a free workshop Saturday, May 31, with advice on how best to grow these popular vegetables.
"The 3 P's of Tomato & Pepper Growing: Planting, Pruning, Problems" is the title, and that includes so much. "Topics covered will be how to plant seedlings in the garden, methods of pruning and training growing plants, and diagnosing and resolving problems including pests," the master gardeners say.
The workshop will be held from 9 a.m. to noon at the Sherwood Demonstration Garden in Placerville. Registration is requested for planning purposes, but not required.
The Sherwood Demonstration Garden, 6699 Campus Drive, is in Folsom Lake College's El Dorado Center, Placerville. Parking is $2. The garden is open every Friday and Saturday mornings through October, 9 a.m. to noon, for strolling the 16 themed gardens and asking questions of the master gardeners working there. Note: The garden is closed if the forecast for 9 a.m. to noon is 95 degrees or higher, or when air quality index reaches 150 or unhealthy levels during that time.
For more on El Dorado County master gardener activities, go to https://ucanr.edu/site/uc-master-gardeners-el-dorado-county
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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
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Garden Checklist for week of June 15
Make the most of this “average” weather; your garden is growing fast! (So are the weeds!)
* 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 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. That can encourage blossom-end rot.
* 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.
* Pull weeds before they go to seed.
* Let the grass grow longer. Set the mower blades high to reduce stress on your lawn during summer heat. To cut down on evaporation, water your lawn deeply during the wee hours of the morning, between 2 and 8 a.m.
* 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.
* Mulch, mulch, mulch! This “blanket” keeps moisture in the soil longer and helps your plants cope during hot weather. It also helps smother weeds.
* Thin grapes on the vine for bigger, better clusters later this summer.
* Cut back fruit-bearing canes on berries.
* 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.
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