April Tips & Events for Santa Clara County | | |
“Spring unlocks the flowers to paint the laughing soil.”
~Reginald Heber
| | Quiz: Container Planting Mix | |
Garden centers offer various bagged planting and soil mixes. One of these planting mixes should not be used in containers. Which is it?
- Potting mix
- Succulent mix
- Garden soil
- Orchid mix
| | Photo credit: Beth Basham | | April 11 Spring Garden Fair | For many local gardeners, our Spring Garden Fair is a rite of spring. It’s the place to kick off your summer garden with demonstrations, talks, expert advice, and tours—plus a huge plant sale featuring tomatoes, peppers and more. This year, we’ve gone a step further, offering summer vegetable seedlings such as squash, eggplant, cucumbers and beans, all specifically selected for the soil and conditions of Santa Clara County. Enjoy kids’ activities, an “Ask a Master Gardener” booth, a Green Elephant sale and more. Join us for a day of learning, plant selection and garden inspiration! | | | Help us trial three exciting new tomatoes in your garden. We’re inviting gardeners to grow KARMA Peach, Purple Zebra, and Red Torch tomatoes and report their results back to us. By growing the same varieties under diverse conditions, you can help us decide whether they are worthy of inclusion in next year’s tomato sale. Seedlings will be available for purchase at our Spring Garden Fair—visit the Tomato Trial Booth to buy yours and be part of the experiment. | | Photo: Purple Zebra tomatoes, by Rene Prupes | | Growing Natives Garden Tour | Looking to add native plants to your garden and need inspiration? Come to the Growing Natives Garden tour on April 18-19. This is a free tour of many public and private native gardens in the Bay Area, organized by the California Native Plant Society (Santa Clara Valley Chapter) in partnership with the UC Master Gardeners of Santa Clara County. This year features 19 new gardens and many scheduled talks covering a wide range of topics. Learn how native plants attract, provide shelter and offer food for birds and pollinators, in addition to saving water, and more! | | Photo: Native plants at the Martial Cottle Park Demonstration Garden, by Mary Werthman | | Before you rush to transplant your young seedlings, take a moment to ensure you are set for success. First, check the soil temperature 2 to 4 inches below ground. Warm-season vegetables do best when the soil temperature is consistently 65 to 80°F. Next, make sure your plants have hardened off. Plants grown in greenhouses tend to put their energy into growing taller at the expense of growing sturdier. This leaves them vulnerable to outdoor conditions. Gradual exposure to light wind and temperature changes will encourage the plant to direct energy to growing thicker and stronger. A little patience on your part can lead to a better summer bounty. | | |
Gardeners may be tempted to squeeze “just one more plant” into their edible gardens, but there are good reasons to think twice. Seedlings need enough space to grow into their mature sizes. Crowded maturing plants compete with each other for access to water, nutrients, sunlight and air circulation, so individual plants in limited space are less productive. Crammed plants can be harder to monitor for pests and more susceptible to diseases. Growing more vegetables than you can eat wastes water and resources and contributes to methane-generating landfills. So take some time first to plan your edible garden from the start! | Photo credit: Lauren Snowden |
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Have you found C-shaped grubs in garden soil or under lawns? Wonder what they are and if they’re harmful? Many garden and lawn grubs are the larvae of certain beetles. These root-feeding creatures usually don’t cause significant plant damage if the population is less than six per square foot. Hand-picking and leaving grubs out for birds to eat is effective control for small populations. For large populations, consider adding beneficial nematodes to the soil; however, timing is critical. In lawns, infestations can make turf feel spongy or roll up like a carpet. If you notice pits in your lawn, skunks or raccoons may be digging for grubs to eat. | Photo: Northern masked chafer beetle larvae by Jack Kelly Clark, UC IPM | | |
Quiz Answer
Potting mixes are OK for containers. They are formulated with blends of peat moss, pine bark, coir, perlite and vermiculite to retain moisture and provide air space for plant roots growing in containers.
Orchid and succulent mixes are special potting mixes for improved drainage and air movement for the respective plants.
Garden soil is not OK for container gardening. It is for in-ground planting. Garden soil contains minerals, organic matter, air and water. In containers, mineral-based soil becomes compacted and saturated with water, limiting the air space necessary for plant roots. Weeds, insects and disease organisms may be found in unpasteurized soil.
| | Photo: Potting mix (top), and garden soil (bottom) by Beth Basham | | More April Tips and To-Dos | | For more gardening tips and to-dos, visit the monthly tips archive on our website. It is perfect for browsing, and while you may recognize some of the content, you’re sure to find something new. It starts with to-dos for the month, just the thing to review before heading out to your garden. | |
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PADG Design Your Dream Native Plant Garden! Saturday, April 4, 10:00–11:15 am, Palo Alto Demonstration Garden, 851 Center Drive, Palo Alto
Beautify Your Garden With Flowers That Attract Pollinators, Saturday, April 4, 10:30–11:30 am, Gilroy Library, 350 W 6th Street, Gilroy
Growing Culinary Herbs in Your Garden, Wednesday, April 8, 7:00–8:00 pm, Morgan Hill Library, 660 W Main Avenue, Morgan Hill
Spring Garden Fair - Martial Cottle Park, Saturday, April 11, 9:00 am–2:00 pm, Martial Cottle Park, 5283 Snell Avenue, San Jose
Beautiful, Easy-Care, Bearded Iris, Tuesday, April 14, 6:30–7:30 pm, Mountain View Public Library, 585 Franklin Street, Mountain View
Healthy Soil: How to Improve Your Soil for Planting, Tuesday, April 14, 7:00–8:30 pm, Saratoga Library, 13650 Saratoga Avenue, Saratoga
Plant Clinic Online, Tuesday, April 14, 7:00–8:30 pm, Online
Spring Cleaning: Where Indoor Pests Could Be Hiding, Thursday, April 16, 12:00–1:00 pm, Online
SCTDG Ground Cover Propagation Workshop, Saturday, April 18, 9:30–11:00 am, South County Teaching and Demonstration Garden, 80 Highland Avenue, San Martin
MRDG April Gardening Tips and Maintenance, Saturday, April 18, 10:00 am–noon, McClellan Ranch Preserve, community garden area, 22221 McClellan Road, Cupertino
Now Is the Time for Homegrown Tomatoes, Saturday, April 18, 10:30–11:45 am, Willow Glen Branch Library, 1157 Minnesota Avenue, San Jose
Container Gardening, Saturday, April 18, 11:00 am–12:30 pm, Berryessa Branch Library, 3355 Noble Avenue, San Jose
Container Gardening for All Seasons Course, Tuesday, April 21, 6:30–8:30 pm, Fremont Unified High School District Adult Education, 589 W Fremont Avenue, Sunnyvale
| | Check our calendar for the latest schedule of events. Videos of many past presentations are also available. | | Interested in Composting? | | | | |
Composting produces soil-building organic materials for gardens. It also helps to divert organic waste from greenhouse gas-generating landfills. The University of California Cooperative Extension of Santa Clara County partners with cities and the county to offer composting education workshops to residents.
Check out these composting workshops on the Cooperative Extension website!
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University of California Master Gardener volunteers promote sustainable gardening practices and provide research-based horticultural information to home gardeners. Visit our website for more information including:
Have a gardening question? Ask us. We’re here to help!
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