Pumpkin contests, workshops and games are part of garden fun for the whole family
Pumpkins and squash and gourds galore are available at all seven Green Acres locations. This Saturday, during the Fall Festival, each site will hold a pumpkin decorating/carving contest. Photo courtesy Green Acres Nursery & Supply
From 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 30, all seven Green Acres locations will host gardening fun for the whole family. Admission and parking are free.
Each location is hosting a pumpkin decorating contest. Decorate and/or carve the pumpkin in advance and enter it before 9:30 a.m. at the store’s contest table. “Your pumpkin may be large or small, painted or carved, it's up to your imagination,” says Green Acres. Categories include Scariest, Silliest and Most Creative. Winners will be announced Monday, Oct. 2.
Need a pumpkin? Pumpkin patches are already open at each Green Acres. Among the featured varieties: Carving, Fairytale, Lumina, Lil’ Pump-Ke-Mon, Cinderella, Jarrahdale, Big Max, Cronus, Iron Man, Knucklehead, One Too Many and Lunch Lady plus mini pumpkins, winged gourds and gooseneck gourds.
On Saturday, kids can paint a pumpkin at special activity stations. Kids of all ages can play pumpkin bowling or corn hole. Listen to live music, take part in a scavenger hunt or try to win dessert in a pie walk. In addition, the Auburn store will host a petting zoo.
DIY workshops will show how to plant a pumpkin with succulents or pot up mums combined with other fall flowers for a container garden with instant pops of autumn color.
Local garden groups will host information tables. The Sacramento County master gardeners will be on site at the Sacramento and Elk Grove stores from 9 a.m. to noon to answer gardening questions. Get advice on what to plant now and other seasonal gardening tips.
The line-up of entertainment and activities is a little different at each location. Find it here: https://idiggreenacres.com/pages/fall-festival-2023.
Green Acres is located in Sacramento, Auburn, Citrus Heights, Elk Grove, Folsom, Rocklin and Roseville.
For addresses and directions: https://idiggreenacres.com/.
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Food in My Back Yard Series
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
March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds
March 4: Potatoes from the garden
Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space
Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting
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Garden Checklist for week of June 8
Get out early to enjoy those nice mornings. There’s plenty to keep gardeners busy:
* Warm weather brings rapid growth in the vegetable garden, with tomatoes and squash enjoying the heat. Deep-water, then feed with a balanced fertilizer. Bone meal or rock phosphate can spur the bloom cycle and help set fruit.
* Generally, tomatoes need deep watering two to three times a week, but don’t let them dry out completely. Inconsistent soil moisture can encourage blossom-end rot.
* It’s not too late to transplant tomatoes, peppers or eggplant.
* From seed, plant corn, melons, pumpkins, radishes, squash and sunflowers.
* Plant basil to go with your tomatoes.
* Transplant summer annuals such as petunias, marigolds and zinnias.
* It’s also a good time to transplant perennial flowers including astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia, salvia and verbena.
* Feed camellias, azaleas and other acid-loving plants. Mulch to conserve moisture and reduce heat stress.
* Cut back Shasta daisies after flowering to encourage a second bloom in the fall.
* Trim off dead flowers from rose bushes to keep them blooming through the summer. Roses also benefit from deep watering and feeding now. A top dressing of aged compost will keep them happy. It feeds as well as keeps roots moist.
* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushier plants with many more flowers in September.
* Tie up vines and stake tall plants such as gladiolus and lilies. That gives their heavy flowers some support.
* Dig and divide crowded bulbs after the tops have died down.
* Feed summer flowers with a slow-release fertilizer.
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