Plant Pest/Disease Problem Solver Site Other Garden Websites NOW ! How Much Water Does Your Lawn and Garden Really Need? July Garden Chores August Garden Chores Tomato Troubleshooting Tips Blossom End Rot on Tomatoes Tomato Gardening: Tips and Hints How To Get Bigger Fruit From Your Fruit Trees How To Grow Giant Pumpkins Grow your Own Popcorn !   New Pest in Northern California: The European Grapevine Moth   VEGETABLES Sacramento Area Planting Guide for Flower and Vegetable Seeds Starting a Vegetable Garden? Prepare Your Own Seed-Starting Soil Mix Why Rotate Your Crops? Best Soil Temperatures for Vegetable Seeds Greenhouse Tomatoes in the Winter   FRUIT How to Increase the Size of Your Table Grapes Citrus Tips from the Pros UC: Growing Blueberries in the Sacramento Region Blueberries for the Valley Plant a Fruit Tree...Or Two! Choosing and Planting Bare Root Fruit Trees U.C. Davis Tips on Fruit Tree Pruning & Training How To Prune Overgrown Deciduous Fruit Trees   ROSES Rose Pruning, California Style Roses For Shade The Top Ten Roses for Sacramento 100 Roses for the Valley and Foothills Rose Planting Basics   GARDEN HELPERS The Garden "Good Guys" Plants to Attract Beneficial Insects Attracting Bees To Your Garden GardenInsects.Com Free Publications From UC's Farm and Garden Experts    TREES 20 Great Trees for the Sacramento Area Small Trees for Small Yards Hiring an Arborist: Tips from the Sacramento Tree Foundation After the storm: Leaning Trees Need Your Attention, Now! Oak Tree Care Planting Under Oaks Pruning Q&A's 3 Seasons of Color: the Chanticleer Pear Tree   PLANTS, ETC. Growing Great Gladiolas Houseplants Make Great Gifts  Good Garden Books for Our Area The Joys of the Imperfect Garden   LANDSCAPING Drain That Rain ! Landscaping Makes Dollars (and Sense) Landscaping Tips UC Davis Arboretum All-Stars John Gray's Top 20 Landscape Plants Easy Care Plants for Privacy  Kill Weeds, Nematodes with Soil Solarization Landscaping After a Fire: Tips from the CLCA Hot Topics How To Spot the Asian Citrus Psyllid Pest Poison Plants, People & Pets Put The Bite On Mosquitoes Jumping Oak Galls! "Cash For Grass" in Roseville Find A Farmer's Market Near You Eucalyptus Red Gum Lerp Psyllid Control Glassy Winged Sharpshooter Information Weather Websites   FOOD! Too Many Plums? Try This Recipe! Recipes for Your Home Grown Produce  Agriculture-Related Websites   WINTER! After a Freeze: What Should You Do in the Garden? The Quick Guide: When a Frost is Forecast Frost Protection for Citrus and Other Subtropical Plants Protecting Plants from Frost or Freeze Growing Winter Vegetables Christmas Tree Care Choosing and Planting Bare Root Fruit Trees U.C. Davis Tips on Fruit Tree Pruning & Training

Lifetime Master Gardener Fred Hoffman is the host of the "KFBK Garden Show" on NewsTalk 1530 KFBK in Sacramento, California each Sunday morning from 8:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., followed by "Get Growing" on Talk 650 KSTE in Sacramento, 10 a.m. to Noon. And, you can listen to the shows, live, via the KFBK.com and KSTE.com websites.   Now available as podcasts: previous editions of "The KFBK Garden Show" and "Get Growing".  Southern Sacramento and Northern San Joaquin County gardeners can also get current gardening information from Fred in his Saturday gardening column in the Lodi News-Sentinel.; also available at the Farmer Fred Rant! Blog page. Pictures, gardening info, events and more on Facebook and Twitter! ================================================================= Looking For Something Here? Try the Farmer Fred Search! Loading The Latest Posts at The Farmer Fred Rant! blog page Have Horses? Avoid These Plants! Which Mulch is Best for Your Garden? Drip Irrigation vs. Drip Irritation A Garden Shoe Report Card Plants that Attract Beneficial Insects Battling Blossom End Rot on Tomatoes Control Aphids, Naturally! More Summertime Tomato Troubles Cabbageworm Control: Beware the Beautiful Butterfly How Long Should You Run a Drip Irrigation System? Prune Your Tomato Plants?!? Why??? Be Fire Safe! Is Your Property Ready? Early Summer Tomato Troubles Fruit Harvest Timetable The Right Way to Water Your Lawn and Garden Garden Accidents of the Rich and Famous Goodbye, Lawn! It's the Silly Season for Garden Pesticide Ads Tree Goes Boom! Film at 11. Still Deciding Which Tomato to Plant? A Report Card Hail Can Be Hell on a Garden Tomato Troubleshooting Give Problem Plants the Heave-Ho! The Cherry Maggots Come to Town. Tree Roses Suck! Tips for Searching for Garden Information on the Internet Going Plant Shopping? Gardener, Beware! Starting Your First Vegetable Garden? Some Tips. Don't Believe the Advertising...Read the Label! Ants! Recipes for Your Home-Grown Produce Terrific Tomato Growing Tips The Top Ten Roses for the Sacramento Area Battling Slugs and Snails AFTER the Storm: Inspect Your Trees to Avert Future Damage 10 Landscaping Questions To Ask Yourself Organic Flea Control Tips The Backyard Garden Crop Rotation Plan Hooked on Heucheras Container Planting Tips Five Steps to Quick Compost Bachelor Pad Houseplants    =================================================================   UPCOMING GUESTS ON THE "KFBK GARDEN SHOW" & "GET GROWING" Heard each Sunday from 8:30 a.m. to Noon:    July 25: Steve Zien, Living Resources Co.: "Put Your Fertilizer on a Diet" Aug. 1: Master Gardeners Judy McClure and Shannon Gordon: "Harvest Day at the Fair Oaks Hort.Center"  Aug. 8: Debbie Flower, American River College Horticulture Department : "Gardening in the Dog Days"   +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++  Garden Data (thru July 29, 2010) Avg. evapotranspiration rate this past week : 1.7" valley; 1.8" foothills. Soil Temperature: 72 (F) valley. 75 (F) foothills. 74 (F) upper foothills. Click Here for more Information about soil temperature and evapotranspiration rates   Chilling hours (Nov. 1, 2009 - Feb. 28, 2010): hours at 45 degrees or less, for deciduous fruit tree production, Chill Season: Nov. 1- Feb. 28) VALLEY: 690-935 hours FOOTHILLS: 935-1404 hours ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Looking for lists and pictures of plants that don't require much water? Check out the website... Water-Wise Gardening in the Gold Country Region This is a project undertaken in conjunction with the municipalities and water districts in three counties: Sacramento, El Dorado and Placer as well as local horticulturists. The website has a wealth of local residential photography and plant information to help the homeowner improve their garden in a water efficient way.     Saturday, Aug. 7 When: 8:00 a.m. &endash; 2:00 p.m. Where: Fair Oaks Horticulture Center, 11549 Fair Oaks Bl. Fair Oaks Cost: Free Activities: Timely educational lectures, demonstrations, grape, orchard fruit and tomato tasting, educational booths, garden-related items for purchase, food and drinks for purchase For More Info: http://cesacramento.ucdavis.edu or (916) 875-6913   Please join UC Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners at Harvest Day 2010 "Celebrating 30 Years of Gardening Advice" on Saturday, August 7, 8:00 a.m.- 2:00 p.m. This premier gardening event features timely gardening topics presented under a spreading oak canopy, surrounded by an ornamental, water efficient landscape garden, edible demonstration gardens featuring blueberries, grapes, orchard fruit, vegetables, and so much more. The Master Gardeners are particularly excited to have "Farmer Fred" Hoffman, host of the "KFBK Garden Show" and KSTE "Get Growing" as a featured speaker at 8:30 a.m.   ==============================================   Saturday, August 14 Guided Tour: An Oak Oasis in August 10:00 a.m., Arboretum Gazebo, Garrrod Drive, UC Davis The UC Davis Arboretum contains one of the nation's largest collections of oaks, and the Shields Oak Grove is a shady oasis in the hot summer months. A free guided tour on Saturday, August 14 will highlight the new Oak Discovery Trail. The tour guide will discuss oak ecology and the importance of oaks in human culture through time and around the world. The tour will leave at 10:00 a.m. from the Arboretum Gazebo, on Garrod Drive on the UC Davis campus. There is no charge for the tour, and free parking is available along Garrod Drive and in Visitor Lots 50 and 55. For more information, please call (530) 752-4880 or visit arboretum.ucdavis.edu.   ==============================================   Friday, August 20th  An Evening with Placer Grown at High Hand Nursery, 3750 Taylor Rd. in Loomis 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm is a Not Host Bar and Light hors d'oeuvres 7:00 pm Dinner, Live Auction and Live Entertainment This will be Placer Grown's annual fundraiser and there will be wonderful items for auction donated by local Loomis businesses and local farmers. For more information: highhand.com   =============================================   Saturday, August 21st, 9am-5pm Sunday, August 22nd, 9am -4pm High Hand Nursery, 3750 Taylor Rd. in Loomis Join High-Hand in Celebrating the Bounty of Placer County at the historic High Hand fruit sheds in Downtown Loomis. Taste all things tomato. Meet the Farmers & Producers of Placer County. Enter Tomato Growing Contests. Experience the Rich History of Placer County Agriculture. For more information: highhand.com       ======================  Deer Resistant Plants (from the Nevada County Master Gardeners ) Garden Catolog Terminology: What They REALLY Mean Ten Tough Trees Cooperative Extension Offices in California Choosing & Caring For Garden Tools   Garden Questions and Answers   Plants for Busy People   The Banana Shrub: A Show for the Nose   Garden Math   Meet the (fruit) Beetles !   The Light Brown Apple Moth Hits California   All About Manure   Year-Round Backyard Orange Juice   5 Steps to Quick Compost   Help Your Plants Beat the Heat of Summer   Old Trees and Storms   Grasshopper Control   Another Eucalyptus Pest Arrives   The Asian Longhorned Beetle Comes to Town   Gardening by the Moon   Invasive Weed, Japanese Dodder    HGTV Visits Farmer Fred !   Farmer Fred Video Page   Find a California Garden Club Near You!   Our 2009 Tomato & Pepper Garden   Our 2008 Tomato and Pepper Garden     Our 2007 Tomato & Pepper Garden     Fred's Bike Tour of the Unknown Coast

Date Last Modified: 7/29/10
© 2010 Fred Hoffman