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Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Dec. 20

Expect to see changes in your garden as winter officially begins

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED DEC 19, 2020

Even if they're still trying to bloom, start pruning your roses now. Strip off

any remaining leaves, too. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Foggy nights and chilly mornings; welcome to winter in Sacramento!

A new season starts Monday with a crisp, cool forecast now through Christmas. According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento will see afternoon highs hovering around 59 degrees and overnight lows dipping to almost freezing but not quite.

With ground still damp from recent rain, that combination creates perfect conditions for fog, which will settle into the valley for the next few nights. All that moisture will speed up fungal diseases such as botrytis.

Expect to see sudden changes in your garden. Although many deciduous plants have been holding onto their foliage and acting like it’s still October instead of almost January, they’ll stop dropping leaves in bunches now and quickly slip into dormancy.

Make the most of this pre-Christmas week. Work off some calories and show your garden some TLC.

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while they’re dormant. It’s easier to see their structure without their leaves.

* Start pruning 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 and sharpen garden tools before storing for the winter.

* Rake and remove dead leaves and stems from dormant perennials.

* The first day of winter is the shortest day of the year – a great time to plant garlic and onions for harvest in summer.

* Bare-root season has begun. Plant bare-root berries, kiwifruit, grapes, artichokes, horseradish and rhubarb. Beware of soggy soil. It can rot bare-root plants.

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

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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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