Thank you to our readers; Sacramento Digs Gardening celebrates 5 years

By Debbie Arrington and Kathy Morrison

Happy birthday to us! Sacramento Digs Gardening turns 5 years old today, June 1.

For us, this milestone represents more than 1,825 posts – at least one every day for five years. That’s commitment as well as a lot of gardening news. That total also illustrates the abundance of garden activities and interest in our area. Sacramento really does dig gardening. As Sacramento journalists, we knew it, and as Sacramento gardeners, we lived it.

Gardening and cooking go hand in hand; we eat a lot of what we grow. So early in our evolution, we added seasonal recipes every Sunday, using what we harvested from our own gardens or found at farmers markets. Our garden-fresh recipes have become one of the most popular parts of our gardening blog. We recently compiled our Spring recipes into our first digital cookbook, “Taste Spring!”, with more seasonal e-cookbooks to come.

Why did we start Sacramento Digs Gardening? There was a need – in spring 2018 the Sacramento region suddenly lacked a one-stop source for local gardening information and events – so we filled it. (Remember: Nature abhors a vacuum.) 

Like you, we’re active local gardeners, members of community gardens and local garden clubs or organizations. We write about what’s happening in our local gardening community – what our readers need to know right here right now. That could be flower tours or plant sales, pest outbreaks or disease alerts, weather forecasts or water restrictions; it’s all local garden news.

Because – as "Farmer Fred" Hoffman says – all gardening is local.

That’s helped us grow in these five short years into a top source of garden information for Sacramento-area gardeners. More than 2,300 readers follow our blog on Facebook. Many receive our daily e-newsletter direct to their inboxes.

To each and every reader, thank you! We sincerely appreciate your interest and support.

Specifically, we want to thank local garden clubs – there are dozens! – and the UC Cooperative Extension master gardeners of Sacramento, Placer, El Dorado and Yolo counties. These educational organizations are vital for our local gardening communities; they help make us all better gardeners.

Thank you to local nurseries and garden businesses. We appreciate all that you do and want to help you thrive. (After all, we’re customers.)

Thank you to the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Gardens, one of our region’s greatest resources of gardening inspiration (plus fantastic water-wise plants). Thank you to the Sacramento Tree Foundation; what would the City of Trees be without you?

A special shoutout here to Farmer Fred himself for his support and encouragement. When he was still on the radio locally, he brought us on as guests several times to talk gardening. Now he's a busy podcaster -- with a far-reaching audience -- and still includes us in his 'casts. (He also offers free advice on extending our reach. Thanks, Fred!)

We also must note and thank our most dedicated Facebook follower: the Elk Grove Community Garden, which has shared virtually all of our blog posts since the beginning.