Spring starts with four days in the 80s
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| It's apple blossom time -- and time to feed flowering trees and shrubs. (Photo: Debbie Arrington) |
Spring arrives Sunday, followed by what looks like a record heat wave.
According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento can expect four days in the 80s, starting Tuesday. This May-like weather peaks at 85 degrees on Wednesday, which would be a record for that date. The all-time hottest March day in Sacramento: 88 degrees.
This spike is 20 degrees higher than Sacramento’s average for mid-March – 65 degrees. Overnight lows (50-53 degrees) are also considerably higher than normal (44 degrees). Those two trends may warm soil up enough to start planting tomatoes – but not quite yet.
A cooldown to more-normal March temperatures is expected next weekend. Hopefully, more rain will follow.
As of noon, Saturday’s storm was less than spectacular. Although there were lots of clouds, rain wasn’t hitting the ground. The weather service lowered its rain estimate to 0.10 inches for most of Sacramento.
“Radar looks more impressive than reality,” the Sacramento NWS office tweeted Saturday morning. “Dry air has largely prevented rain from making it to the Valley surface (virga); only a trace of rain reported at Sac Exec & Int'l (airports). Chance of showers & even a rumble of thunder will be possible for the Valley through sunset.”
Check your soil moisture to see if your garden got the rain it needed. If not, give everything a deep soaking to prepare your plants for the heat ahead.
* Fertilize roses, annual flowers and berries as spring growth appears. Always water before fertilizing.
* Look out for aphids. Blast them off plants with a stream of water.
* Pull weeds now! Don’t let them get started. Take a hoe and whack them as soon as they sprout.
* Prepare summer vegetable beds. Spade in compost and other amendments.
* Prune and fertilize spring-flowering shrubs after bloom. Try using well-composted manure, spread 1-inch thick under the tree. This serves as both fertilizer and mulch, retaining moisture while cutting down on weeds.
* Feed camellias at the end of their bloom cycle. Pick up browned and fallen flowers to help corral blossom blight.
* Feed citrus trees as they start to bloom.
* Cut back and fertilize perennial herbs to encourage new growth.
* Seed and renovate the lawn.
* In the vegetable garden, transplant lettuce and cole family plants, such as broccoli, collards and kale.
* Seed chard and beets directly into the ground. (Beet seeds benefit from soaking first.)
* Plant summer bulbs, including gladiolus, tuberous begonias and callas. Also plant dahlia tubers.
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Garden Checklist for week of Nov. 3
November still offers good weather for fall planting:
* If you haven't already, it's time to clean up the remains of summer. Pull faded annuals and vegetables. Prune dead or broken branches from trees.
* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.
* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.
* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now.
* Plant garlic and onions.
* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.
* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.
* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.
* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.
* For holiday blooms indoors, plant paperwhite narcissus bulbs now. Fill a shallow bowl or dish with 2 inches of rocks or pebbles. Place bulbs in the dish with the root end nestled in the rocks. Add water until it just touches the bottom of the bulbs. Place the dish in a sunny window. Add water as needed.
* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.
* For larger blooms, pinch off some camellia buds.
* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.
* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves this month. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. Sprays are most effective now.
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