Placer master gardeners offer free Valentine’s Day workshop
Whether you live in Placer County or not, Saturday's workshop on soil will include useful gardening information. (Yes, that lighter brown soil is clay -- it holds water extremely well.) Kathy Morrison
Love comes down to understanding; that’s true of people or plants. Gardeners can build a better relationship with their gardens by starting from the ground up.
So, what better time than Valentine’s Day to talk about soil?
At 10:30 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, the Placer County master gardeners will present “Gardening with Placer County Soils,” a free one-hour workshop at Loomis Library.
Learn about the importance of living soils, especially the soils in Placer County. That includes notorious clay soils, Sierra foothills’ sometimes rocky terrain and loam-rich river zones. Whatever the soil, healthy soil also is rich in microbes – making it very much alive.
“What is soil?” ask the master gardeners. “Come learn about the soil beneath your feet, what it’s made of, and how you can make it healthier and easier to work with. The result could bring you a beautiful garden and landscape.
“Soils are discussed by texture, organic components, mineral content, pH, and the structure that we can enjoy for growing in Placer County. Learn about the ecosystem in your midst, and how the living soil is an important component of all life on earth. See a demonstration of easy, inexpensive soil testing, and what is revealed for a Roseville landscape.”
These concepts work for soils anywhere, not just Placer County. All gardeners are welcome.
Come early or stay late. This workshop coincides with the Placer County master gardeners’ monthly Open Garden Day, 10 a.m. to noon, outside in the Loomis Demonstration Garden. Inside the multi-themed garden, these local experts will be on hand to answer questions. (Bring examples of pests or their damage in a zip-locked bag; photos are good, too.)
Loomis Library is located at 6050 Library Drive, Loomis.
Details: https://ucanr.edu/site/uc-master-gardeners-placer-county
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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 2
Get out early in the morning and monitor your garden’s moisture needs. Deep water and add temporary shade structures for plants that are feeling a little burned. In particular, protect developing peppers and eggplant.
* Put off fertilization until this heat passes; plants need to concentrate on hydration instead of growth.
* 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.
* 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.
* 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.
* Pinch off dead flowers from perennials and annuals to lengthen their summer bloom.
* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot.
* 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. 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.
* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips. Make sure to keep seeds and seedlings consistently moist.
* Plant potatoes.
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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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