Sacramento Digs Gardening: Dig In: Garden checklist for week of May 23

Coreopsis add color to the garden all summer. In our climate the plants are perennials. (Photos by Kathy Morrison)

Watch for rapid growth; this weather will bring out the best in your recent transplants and seedlings. Tomatoes may appear to be sprouting inches overnight. (They are!)

Sacramento will see just about perfect growing conditions this week, according to the National Weather Service. Afternoons will slowly warm into the 80s, with plenty of bright daylight in the comfortable 70s. Skies will be clear and conditions mildly breezy.

Warm soil makes for rapid root growth. Overnight lows will stay above 50 degrees, helping to keep the ground comfortable for baby plants.

These warm but mild conditions are expected to last at least another seven days. Our next 90-degree day could be Memorial Day.

What about rain? Thunderstorms still are possible this weekend in the foothills and Sierra, says the weather service. But Sacramento likely will remain dry.

Time to show your garden some love:

* Add mulch to the garden to save water and keep roots comfortable. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. Leave about a 6-inch-to-1-foot circle around tree trunks and shrub crowns to avoid crown rot.

* Deep-water shrubs, trees and perennials as well as transplants to encourage strong, deep roots.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

Deadhead roses when they're finished blooming.

* Cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants. Prune lilacs.

* It’s not too late to transplant tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.

* Plant dahlia tubers, verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and other summer color.

CHECKLIST FOR THE WEEK

Your weekly checklist of activities in the garden.

Keywords:

seeds tomatoes gardening Sacramento summer annuals May deadheading checklist fertilizer perennials weather

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Food in My Back Yard Series

April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers

April 8: When to plant summer vegetables

April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths

March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth

March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds

March 4: Potatoes from the garden

Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space

Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting

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Garden Checklist for week of April 27

Once the clouds clear, get to work. Spring growth is in high gear.

* Set out tomato, pepper and eggplant transplants.

* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, radishes and squash. Plant onion sets.

* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias. Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.

* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom. Late April is about the last chance to plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.

* Transplant lettuce and cabbage seedlings.

* Weed, weed, weed! Don’t let unwanted plants go to seed.

* April is the last chance to plant citrus trees such as dwarf orange, lemon and kumquat. These trees also look good in landscaping and provide fresh fruit in winter.

* Feed citrus trees with a low dose of balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) during bloom to help set fruit. Keep an eye out for ants.

* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.

* Thoroughly clean debris from the bottom of outdoor ponds or fountains.

* Start thinning fruit that's formed on apple and stone fruit trees -- you'll get larger fruit at harvest (and avoid limb breakage) if some is thinned now. The UC recommendation is to thin fruit when it is about 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Peaches and nectarines should be thinned to about 6 inches apart; smaller fruit such as plums and pluots can be about 4 inches apart. Apricots can be left at 3 inches apart. Apples and pears should be thinned to one fruit per cluster of flowers, 6 to 8 inches apart.

* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.

* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.

* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.

* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.

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