Fresh tomato soup uses only five ingredients
Fall kicks off with sunny, summery days
Bird walk, farm tour and seed saving workshop offered Sept. 24; register in advance
Fall starts Thursday after summer ended with a splash.
Unique private garden is a living lesson in feng shui.
Free family fun, gardening inspiration and lots of pumpkins are part of Sept. 24 event.
What to expect during Sacramento's 2022 Farm-to-Fork Street Festival on Sept. 23 and 24.
Savor the taste of late-summer produce
Is your garden ready for a rainstorm?
Get advice, lunch and succulents at hands-on event
Timely workshops for fall planting season
Help grow the next generation of native oaks
Find native plants that are perfect for our climate
See the newest exotic cultivars as well as old favorites
Turn those early apples into an almost-fall treat
What to do in the garden now the heat has subsided
The combination of extreme heat plus smoke has stressed plants as well as people.
Bring gardening questions to this free public event
Hardy tropical plants can handle high temperatures.
Broccoli: It's green, it's healthy, and it can be a challenge to grow in warmer areas.
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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 24
In between rainy episodes this week:
* Keep your gutters and storm drains cleared. Watch out for leaning trees or weakened branches; if you spot trouble, call an arborist.
* Remember to turn off the sprinklers or other irrigation. Be careful walking on or working with wet soil; it can compact easily.
* On rainy days, do some indoor gardening. Tend to houseplants. Sort seed packets. Start seed indoors for cool-season veggies and flowers.
* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.
* Rake and compost leaves, but leave at least some healthy leaves in planting beds for nesting insects and foraging birds. But dispose of any diseased plant material. For eample, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.
* If you decide to use a living Christmas tree this year, keep it outside in a sunny location until Christmas week. This reduces stress on the young tree.
* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.
* After they bloom, chrysanthemums should be trimmed to 6 to 8 inches above the ground. If in pots, keep the mums in their containers until next spring. Then they can be planted in the ground, if desired, or repotted.
* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.
* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.
* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers such as California poppies and plant spring bloomers such as as sweet peas, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.
* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.
* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.
* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.
* Plant garlic and onions.