Final days of summer will be perfect for fall planting
In addition, American River Ranch holds its own plant sale, fall gardening clinic
Learn about planting garlic -- and preserving it, too
2023 was a great tomato year for gardeners, farmers who planted later
On Wednesday, Warren Roberts guides free tour of earliest fall color
Find hundreds of indoor plants in rare varieties at Shepard Center event
Recipe: Easy cake can be gluten-free, too
Sunny, clear and not-too-hot days make for good planting weather
Timeless Thrills in East Sac hosts pop-up event featuring pottery, cactus and succulents -- plus a talk
Sacramento master gardeners staff Horticulture Center for Open Garden Day
Check drip system is working when plant shows sign of dehydration
Find hundreds of unusual, colorful shade-loving plants at free event
Let nature give you a hand; recycle fallen leaves -- and dig bigger holes
Recipe: Grilled chicken breasts with watermelon salsa
Make the most of this cool end of summer; start your fall garden
They only look scary (and they eat lots of bugs)
It's a Sisyphean battle, but don't surrender
Red Flag Warning means be cautious; what Sacramento-area gardeners need to know
Community Garden hosts free composting workshop
Placer County master gardeners offer expertise at several locations during the month
Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.
Thanks to Our Sponsor!
Local News
Sites We Like
Garden Checklist for week of Jan. 5
Take advantage of this break between storm systems to give your garden some much-needed TLC.
* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.
* Now is the time to prune fruit trees. (The exceptions are apricot and cherry trees, which are susceptible to a fungus that causes dieback. Save them until summer.) Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease.
* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* Apply horticultural oil to fruit trees soon after a rain to control scale, mites and aphids. Oils need 24 hours of dry weather after application to be effective.
* This is also the time to spray a copper-based fungicide to peach and nectarine trees to fight leaf curl. (The safest effective fungicides available for backyard trees are copper soap -- aka copper octanoate -- or copper ammonium, a fixed copper fungicide. Apply either of these copper products with 1% horticultural oil to increase effectiveness.)
* When forced bulbs sprout, move them to a cool, bright window. Give them a quarter turn each day so the stems will grow straight.
* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.
* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.
* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.
* Plant bare-root roses, trees and shrubs.
* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.
* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.
* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.
* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranuculous and gladiolus for bloom from late spring into summer.
* Plant blooming azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons. If you’re shopping for these beautiful landscape plants, you can now find them in full flower at local nurseries.
Powered by California Local
