Spring is coming! Get gardening advice, inspiration at Open Garden Day

March in the Sacramento region is the ramping-up month for spring gardening. An ideal place to find inspiration, advice and answers to seasonal gardening questions is Open Garden Day, to be held Saturday, March 8, at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center.

Sacramento County master gardeners will be on site from 9 a.m. to noon, rain or shine, ready to talk about their favorite topics. Emphasis in the garden this month includes how to:

— Divide plants to propagate them;

— Cut back perennials before spring growth;

— Get started with compost;

— Measure and adjust soil pH for blueberries;

— Prune grapevines by cane or spur methods.

Gardeners are welcome to roam the Horticulture Center, which also includes an orchard (check out the new avocado plantings), a vegetable garden (preparing for spring veggie planting) and an herb garden (pruning the scented geraniums).

Visitors can also bring their plant and pest questions (and bagged samples, if possible) to the “Ask the Master Gardeners” table for answers. 

The Fair Oak Horticulture Center is located south of the Fair Oaks Library and Fair Oaks Park, 11549 Fair Oaks Blvd.

Open Garden Days generally happen once a month; the next one will be Wednesday, April 9, from 9 a.m. to noon. See the full 2025 schedule here.

In between, the master gardeners on Saturday, March 22, will present a class on worm composting; deadline to sign up in Monday, March 10.

The class runs 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the UCCE Office Auditorium, 4145 Branch Center Road, Sacramento. Cost is $35, open to ages 13 and up. Space is limited. Each participant will receive educational materials, a worm bin with bedding, red wiggler worms and adoption papers. Registration link and more information can be found here.