Saturday class, presentations focus on vegetable gardening
For now we can dream of a tomato harvest like this. Kathy Morrison
Tomato gardeners and wannabe tomato gardeners, our time is coming! Eventually this year we’ll be able to plant, tend and harvest our favorite crop. Just not yet -- still too wet and cold.
In the meantime, learn about or refresh your memory on growing that precious harvest -- and other vegetables -- in two special events this weekend.
In the morning, learn about growing tomatoes, and then preserving them, at a special 3-hour class jointly taught by the El Dorado County master gardeners and master food preservers. “Tomatoes from Seed to Table” runs from 9 a.m. to noon Saturday, March 25, at the El Dorado Hills CSD Teen Center (next to the CSD Skate Park), 1021 Harvard Way, El Dorado Hills.
Master gardeners will show how to choose the right varieties, deal with insects and diseases, care for and harvest your tomatoes. Master food preservers will talk about what you can do with your tomato harvest: canning, dehydrating and freezing. Instructors for this class are Zack Dowell, Suzanne Surburg and Cindy Young.
For more information on the El Dorado County master gardener programs and events, visit https://mgeldorado.ucanr.edu/
And if your hunger for vegetable gardening knowledge isn’t sated after that, stop in at the “Grow Orangevale” event at the Orangevale Library afterwards. Catch Sacramento County master gardeners, including “Farmer Fred” Hoffman, giving presentations on home vegetable gardening.
At 1 p.m., master gardener Andi McDonald will discuss the basics of starting and maintaining a home vegetable garden – what, when, and where to plant. At 2 p.m., Hoffman will present tips on spring gardening.
The Sacramento Public Library in Orangevale is at 8820 Greenback Lane, Suite L.
For other Sacramento master gardener events, visit https://sacmg.ucanr.edu/
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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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