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Events from Loomis to Fairfield welcome gardeners
Determining the right time to harvest a watermelon can be tricky. The Yolo master gardeners on Saturday offer a free class on "Gardening for Year-Round Meals -- Summer Harvest," with tips on how and when to pick summer fruits and vegetables. Kathy Morrison
August weekends can be a frenzy of divided activity: Dodging the heat, harvesting and preserving summer vegetables, planning for fall gardens, preparing for the start of the school year, all while trying to hold onto the last bits of real summer.
Here is a selection of under-the-radar activities this Saturday, Aug. 9, that will help keep the summer mood going:
-- Bird walk, 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. at Soil Born Farms in Rancho Cordova. $15. In this stroll around a pleasant (cool!) walk around American River Ranch, birdwatchers are likely to see a variety of resident and migratory birds. Naturalist Cliff Hawley will point out other critters and plant life along the way. Ideal for beginner to intermediate birdwatchers. The Wild Birds Unlimited Nature Shop in Loehmann’s Plaza co-sponsors the bird walks. Sign up here. Soil Born this Saturday also offers yoga in the morning and a class on insects for preschool-age kids.
-- "Growing For and With Children," 9 to 10 a.m. at Dunnell Nature Park, 3351 Hillridge Drive, Fairfield. This is a free workshop presented by the Solano County master gardeners. "Gardening with children is more than just planting seeds—it's about nurturing curiosity, wonder, and a lifelong connection to the natural world, " the master gardeners say. "Whether you're growing kid-friendly crops like snap peas, strawberries, or sunflowers, or creating a space where little hands can dig, water, and explore, the garden becomes a living classroom." No registration or RSVP required to attend. See more Solano master gardener events here.
-- "What's the Buzz About Pollinators?" 10:30 a.m. at the Loomis Library, Loomis. The Placer County master gardeners present a free workshop on attracting and protecting our winged visitors. Bring a ceramic pot saucer and make a puddling dish for your garden. This event takes place during the Second Saturday Open Loomis Garden Day, which runs from 10 a.m. to noon. Visit the master gardeners' demonstration garden outside the library and get gardening questions answered. Information on Placer master gardener events here.
-- "Gardening for Year-Round Meals -- Summer Harvest," 11 a.m. to noon, Grace Garden, 1620 Anderson Road, Davis. The Yolo County master gardeners present this free program, led by Ann Liu, who is team leader for Grace Garden volunteers and a master gardener since 2011. She will tell how to determine when your produce is ripe (which can be difficult with watermelons, for example) and will also discuss garden maintenance and planning for the fall garden. Grace Garden, located behind Davis' United Methodist Church, is a volunteer-run, 5/8-acre garden that provides thousands of pounds of fresh produce to help feed the hungry every year. All upcoming Yolo master gardener events can be found here.
Plus there is this event we've already written about on the blog: the Rio Linda Zucchini Races at the Rio Linda Grange.
Stay cool this weekend, gardeners.
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Flowers in My Back Yard Series
May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens
May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend
April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look
April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower
April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact
April 7: Calendulas do double duty
April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come
March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)
March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots
March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums
March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come
March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy
Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?
Feb. 24: Treasure spring daffodils now and for years to come
Feb. 17: How and why to grow wildflowers
Feb. 10: Let's talk Valentine's Day roses
Feb. 3: Why grow flowers?
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Garden checklist for week of May 17
With an eye on warmer weather to come, continue to work on the summer vegetable garden:
* Remember to irrigate your tender transplants. The wind can quickly dry out young plants. Seedlings need consistent moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants. Water early in the morning for best results.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest lettuce, peas and green onions.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)
* Plant dahlia tubers.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, calibrachoa, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Put your veggie garden on a regular diet. Set up a monthly feeding program, and keep track on your calendar. Make sure to water your garden before applying any fertilizer to prevent “burning” your plants.
* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.
* Don’t forget to weed! Those invaders are growing fast.
Contact Us
Send us a gardening question, a post suggestion or information about an upcoming event. sacdigsgardening@gmail.com
Food in My Back Yard (FIMBY) Series
Lessons learned during a year of edible gardening
WINTER
Is edible gardening possible indoors?
Hints for choosing tomato seeds
Why winter is the perfect time to plant fruit trees
When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
How to squeeze more food into less space
Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Win the weed war by tackling them in winter
Tips for planting bare-root trees, shrubs and vegetables
Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
Ways to win the fight against weeds
FALL
Dec. 16: Add asparagus to your edible garden
Dec. 9: Soggy soil and what to do about it
Dec. 2: Plant artichokes now; enjoy for years to come
Nov. 25: It's late November, and your peach tree needs spraying
Nov. 18: What to do with all those fallen leaves?
Nov. 11: Prepare now for colder weather in the edible garden
Nov. 4: Plant a pea patch for you and your garden
Oct. 27: As citrus season begins, advice for backyard growers
Oct. 20: Change is in the autumn air
Oct. 13: We don't talk (enough) about beets
Oct. 6: Fava beans do double duty
Sept. 30: Seeds or transplants for cool-season veggies?
Sept. 23: How to prolong the fall tomato harvest
SUMMER
Sept. 16: Time to shut it down?
Sept. 9: How to get the most out of your pumpkin patch
Sept. 2: Summer-to-fall transition time for evaluation, planning
Aug. 26: To pick or not to pick those tomatoes?
Aug. 19: Put worms to work for you
Aug. 12: Grow food while saving water
Aug. 5: Enhance your food with edible flowers
July 29: Why won't my tomatoes turn red?
July 22: A squash plant has mosaic virus, and it's not pretty
July 15: Does this plant need water?
July 8: Tear out that sad plant or baby it? Midsummer decisions
July 1: How to grow summer salad greens
June 24: Weird stuff that's perfectly normal
SPRING
June 17: Help pollinators help your garden
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
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