That's 1,825 posts and counting -- all related to local gardening
Blog co-founders Debbie Arrington and Kathy Morrison gained some early notoriety via a 2019 Sacramento Magazine article. Photo by Gabriel Teague/Courtesy of Sacramento Magazine
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 live 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 since the beginning has shared links to so many of our blog posts.
Thank you also to the Regional Water Authority and its BeWaterSmart.info program. We’re honored to have you as our first sponsor. (And yes, we could use more sponsors so we can keep SDG growing.)
And a big, big thank you to CaliforniaLocal.com, our web host and media partner since last September. Mike, Chris, Eric and Sharan, you’ve helped us immensely in keeping SDG online and reaching more readers. Your patience with us has been remarkable, and we are especially grateful.
California Local also was instrumental in the creation of our e-cookbooks. More user-friendly features such as garden maps and growing guides are in the works.
If no one read Sacramento Digs Gardening, it would have withered away long ago. Reader enthusiasm feeds our blog and has kept us producing, right through the pandemic years and now after. If nobody cared, we wouldn’t do it.
But so many people obviously do care about gardening and garden activities in the Sacramento region; that’s how we stay motivated and focused. We care, too.
We’re looking forward to more milestones to come. Grow with us!
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Garden Checklist for week of April 21
This week there’s plenty to keep gardeners busy. With no rain in the immediate forecast, remember to irrigate any new transplants.
* Weed, weed, weed! Get them before they flower and go to seed.
* April is the last chance to plant citrus trees such as dwarf orange, lemon and kumquat. These trees also look good in landscaping and provide fresh fruit in winter.
* 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.
* Spring brings a flush of rapid growth, and that means your garden is really hungry. Feed shrubs and trees with a slow-release fertilizer. Or mulch with a 1-inch layer of compost.
* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.
* 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.
* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.
* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.
* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, 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.
* Mid to late April is about the last chance to plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.
* Transplant lettuce seedlings. Choose varieties that mature quickly such as loose leaf.
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