New! Cherry-orange bread with pecans and orange glaze
New! Strawberry salsa perfect for May celebrations
New! Blueberry spinach salad with honey-Dijon vinaigrette
New! Strawberry lemonade bars perfect for spring holidays
New! Chopped apple salad with raisins, almonds and cabbage
Recipe: Chicken and wild rice soup packed with vegetables
New! Fruit enhances an orange-scented puffy German pancake
New! Spring cream of spinach soup with scapes
New! Salt and vinegar give plain potatoes some personality
New! Berry-berry parfait with strawberries and blackberries (or blueberries)
New! This orange chicken is healthier than fast food
Recipe: Spinach scones with cheddar cheese and garlic chives.
New! Chopped veggies, peanuts provide plenty of crunch
New! Citrus salsa with fresh orange, mandarin, kumquat and lime
New! Vegan soup is loaded with vegetables and spices
New! Cabbage rolls stuffed with rice pilaf, mushrooms, raisins and lemon
Blood oranges and navels with a lavender-lemon syrup
New! Meyer lemon squares with candied almond crust
New! Cream cheese filling enhances a winter treat
Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.
Food in My Back Yard Series
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
Local News
Thanks to Our Sponsor!
Sites We Like
Garden Checklist for week of May 11
Make the most of the lower temperatures early in the week. We’ll be back in the 80s by Thursday.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)
* Plant dahlia tubers.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Add mulch to the garden to maintain moisture. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch-to-1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.
* Remember to weed! Pull those nasties before they set seed.
* Water early in the day and keep seedlings evenly moist.
Powered by California Local
