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Learn how to put clippings and leaves to work in the garden

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Kathy Morrison PUBLISHED MAR 3, 2020

Composting seminar participants will have the change to purchase a GeoBin

at a discounted price. (Photo courtesy GeoBin)

Composting classes Saturday for Sacramento city residents

City of Sacramento residents, don't feed The Claw so much of your yard waste: Put the leaves and twigs and spent plants to work in your garden by turning it into rich homemade compost. It's called "garden gold" for a good reason. Even better: Kitchen waste, such as coffee grounds and onion skins, can go in there, too.

The city is offering its free "Backyard Composting Seminar" this Saturday, March 7. Two sessions are planned: 8-9 a.m. and 9-10 a.m., at Sojourner Truth Community Garden, 7365 Gloria Drive, Sacramento.

The composting workshops are presented by the City of Sacramento Recycling & Solid Waste, along with the Community Garden Program, Worm Fancy and ReSoil Sacramento .

Pre-registration is not required but RSVPs help organizers plan for size of the group. Click "Going" at the "Backyard Composting Seminar" listing at www.facebook.com/SacRecycle . Participants will have the opportunity to purchase a GeoBin for the discounted price of $15 (one per household) after attending the seminar; must be city residents. These easy-to-use bins are favorites of UCCE master gardeners.

Free coffee will be available from Starbucks.

Additional city composting seminars will be offered this spring on April 4, May 6, 9 and 20. See the full list of places and times here .

-- Kathy Morrison

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GENERAL GARDENING

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Keywords:

worms yard waste composting gardening Sacramento workshops free event The Claw soil health

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Garden Checklist for week of April 21

This week there’s plenty to keep gardeners busy. With no rain in the immediate forecast, remember to irrigate any new transplants.

* Weed, weed, weed! Get them before they flower and go to seed.

* April is the last chance to plant citrus trees such as dwarf orange, lemon and kumquat. These trees also look good in landscaping and provide fresh fruit in winter.

* Smell orange blossoms? Feed citrus trees with a low dose of balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) during bloom to help set fruit. Keep an eye out for ants.

* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.

* Thoroughly clean debris from the bottom of outdoor ponds or fountains.

* Spring brings a flush of rapid growth, and that means your garden is really hungry. Feed shrubs and trees with a slow-release fertilizer. Or mulch with a 1-inch layer of compost.

* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.

* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.

* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.

* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.

* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, radishes and squash.

* Plant onion sets.

* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias.

* Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.

* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom.

* Mid to late April is about the last chance to plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.

* Transplant lettuce seedlings. Choose varieties that mature quickly such as loose leaf.

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