Sacramento County master gardeners' tips debut on YouTube

Master gardener Andi MacDonald shows how to grow veggies in containers in one of the new videos filmed by the UCCE master gardeners for Virtual Harvest Day.

(Screenshot from YouTube)

Videos filmed for Harvest Day now available for viewing

By Kathy Morrison

Gardeners don't have to wait for (Virtual) Harvest Day to view all the helpful new videos filmed by the UCCE Sacramento County master gardeners. 

The 21 videos are available now on the master gardeners' new YouTube channel. See the whole list here: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClm9vPOH__UWg0Lwlp5vVNQ/videos

The topics range all over the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center, from the compost area to the Water Efficient Landscape, from the vegetable garden to the orchard. 

For my money, the most immediately useful video features master gardener Bill Black showing how to clean and sharpen pruning shears. I have several pairs that need this help. Also, Dan Vierria explains how soil solarization can eliminate soilborne pests from a planting bed, a method that works beautifully with our summer heat. 

"What's Wrong With My Tomatoes?" with Joeana Carpenter should be required viewing for any and all new vegetable gardeners; she focuses on environmental (aka abiotic) factors.  And Andi MacDonald offers a concise guide to growing veggies year round in containers.

Several videos focus on specific pruning chores: woody sages, rosemary, ornamental grasses, and summer pruning of fruit trees. There are also tips on setting up a compost bin, putting netting over blueberries, growing herbs in containers and identifying pests on grapevines. And plenty more.

Videos are coming from the two Harvest Day speakers, Karrie Reid and Ed Laivo. On Harvest Day itself, Saturday, Aug. 1, live Q&As will be shown with the two speakers and with a panel of UCCE master gardeners. Send questions in to mgsacramento@ucanr.edu

For more on plans for the 2020 Virtual Harvest Day, go to http://sacmg.ucanr.edu/Harvest_Day/