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Open Garden days all around this weekend

Much to see and learn in Loomis, Placerville and South Natomas

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED OCT 9, 2025

Judy Tretheway stewards Confluence Gardens, which will be open for tours Saturday, Oct. 11. Kathy Morrison

The weather should be perfect this weekend for gardening and learning about gardening. A wealth of opportunities is on the calendar for the Sacramento-area gardener:

-- The El Dorado master gardeners offer a joint workshop with the county's master food preservers. "Citrus: From Tree to Table" will take place Saturday, Oct. 11, fron 9 am. to noon, at the Cameron Park Community Centere, 2502 Country Club Drive, Cameron Park.

The class is free but registration is required. Register here. In this combo class, organizers say, "Master Gardeners will inform the novice and experienced citrus grower in what makes for successful growing in this county, what pests to watch for, how to protect during our cold nights, and harvest. The Master Food Preservers will share recipes for delightful treats that can be made using citrus, including marmalades, citrus peels and salts. This class is suitable for beginners and advanced."

-- Meanwhile, the Sherwood Demonstration Garden, which the El Dorado master gardeners maintain, will be open for visitors both Friday and Saturday, Oct. 10 and 11, from 9 a.m. to noon. Enjoy the garden's 16 different planting areas in their fall glory, and chat with master gardeners who are working there. The garden is outside Placerville on Folsom Lake College's El Dorado Center, 6699 Campus Drive. Admission is free but parking is $2. For more El Dorado master gardener events, go to https://ucanr.edu/site/uc-master-gardeners-el-dorado-county

-- Over in Placer County, the Loomis Demonstration Garden will be open to visitors from 10 a.m. to noon as part of the Placer master gardeners' regular Second Saturday event. The garden is on the grounds of the Loomis Library, 6050 Library Drive, Loomis

"Our garden is a living classroom for the Placer County community that emphasizes sustainable gardening, integrated pest management and backyard food production," the master gardeners note.

While there, visitors can pop inside the Loomis Library for a workshop on "Composting and Mulch," from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Learn how to set up a composting system, as well as discover the many types of mulch -- and which works best for which gardens.

For more on Placer County master gardeners events, go here: https://ucanr.edu/site/uc-master-gardeners-placer-county

-- And in South Natomas, Judy Tretheway will welcome visitors to tour her Confluence Gardens on Saturday, Oct. 11, during Open Garden Day. Tours are offered at 10 a.m., 11 a.m. and noon. Confluence Gardens is near the confluence of the American and Sacramento rivers. Tretheway has created a private/community garden that is "devoted to exploring the confluence of humans and plants as we share our gifts and recognize our inter-being."

The Open Garden Day activities include sipping garden-grown teas, making your own tea blend, harvesting some Roselle (hibiscus), and garbling (processing) herbs. The variety and uses of the plants at the site makes the tour a fascinating and spirit-calming experience.

Confluence Gardens is at 1108 Azusa St., South Natomas. Parking in the immediate vicinity may be limited. The Confluence Gardens website for more information and other ways to participate: https://www.confluencegardens.earth/

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Keywords:

UC master gardeners Placer County El Dorado County Open Garden days South Natomas Judy Tretheway demonstration garden workshop compost mulch fall autumn October Sacramento gardening

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Flowers in My Back Yard Series

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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s still small.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don't let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

Send us a gardening question, a post suggestion or information about an upcoming event. sacdigsgardening@gmail.com

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