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Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Jan. 10

Dry weather ideal for winter gardening

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JAN 9, 2021

Free plants, just for the dividing! This Shasta daisy has outgrown its container and is ready to be divided and replanted. Many perennials benefit from periodic dividing. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Cloudy, cool and dry; that’s our forecast for the next week in Sacramento. In other words, it’s perfect winter gardening weather.

According to the National Weather Service, mornings may start out foggy, but afternoons will warm up into the mid 60s – 10 degrees above Sacramento’s January average high of 54.

By next weekend, we may even flirt with the 70s. Sacramento’s record high for January: 74 degrees.

So what are you waiting for?

* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.

* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.

* Prune most deciduous trees and shrubs while you can see their bare branches. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs and camellias.

* Prune most deciduous fruit trees. (The exception: apricots.) Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease.

* Apply horticultural oil to fruit trees soon after a rain to control scale, mites and aphids. Oils need 24 hours of dry weather after application to be effective.

* This is also the time to spray a copper-based oil to peach and nectarine trees to fight leaf curl.

* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.

* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.

* Plant bare-root roses, trees and shrubs.

* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.

* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.

* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.

* Plant callas, anemones, ranunculus and gladiolus and other late spring-flowering bulbs.

* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.

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cool-weather annuals seeds gardening Sacramento pruning peach leaf curl dormant spray garden cleanup checklist January dormancy

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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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