Sacramento Digs Gardening: Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Aug. 29

Keep harvesting tomatoes as they ripen; give the plants a spritz if they have a

lot of ash accumulated on them. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

September brings cooldown and another planting season

Relief is on its way! August ends with another smoky triple-digit weekend. But September starts Wednesday with some much needed coolness and (we hope) cleaner air.

According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento will smolder through Sunday with a forecast high of 101. Then, light winds will start to blow away the haze and bring high temperatures down. By Wednesday, we’ll be back in the mid 80s for the rest of the week.

Weather then will be ideal for setting out cool-season vegetables: Not too hot in the afternoon, but still warm and cozy after dark.

Wait this weekend, then get started in earnest on your fall and winter vegetable garden. Although there’s plenty to keep busy, avoid outdoor activity during poor air quality.

* Keep harvesting tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons and eggplant.

* Pull plants that have finished producing and compost.

* Cultivate and add compost or other amendments to the soil to replenish its nutrients for the next season of vegetables and flowers.

* Fertilize deciduous fruit trees.

* Plant onions, lettuce, peas, radishes, turnips, beets, carrots, bok choy, spinach and potatoes directly into the vegetable beds.

* Transplant cabbage, broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, lettuce and other greens.

* Sow seeds of California poppies, clarkia and African daisies.

* Transplant cool-weather annuals such as pansies, violas, fairy primroses, calendulas, stocks and snapdragons.

* Divide and replant bearded iris as well as other rhizomes, bulbs and perennials.

* Dig up and divide daylilies as they complete their bloom cycle.

CHECKLIST FOR THE WEEK

Your weekly checklist of activities in the garden.

Keywords:

harvest seeds tomatoes Sacramento garden chores smoke weather fall planting gardening vegetables heat checklist perennials summer

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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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