Sacramento Digs Gardening: Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Aug. 9

Keep those peppers and other summer veggies harvested to prompt the plants to keep producing. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Clear, sunny and hot -- what would you expect during early August in Sacramento? That's the forecast for most of this coming week.

According to the National Weather Service, expect highs to hit 95 or 96 degrees most afternoons. In other words, "average" for early August. Thankfully, overnight lows will keep dipping down to around 60 degrees and light Delta breezes should bring a little relief, too. Make the most of those cool mornings.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting. Always water before feeding.

* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.

* Pinch off dead flowers from perennials and annuals to lengthen their summer bloom.

* Deadhead roses for fall flowers. Look out for aphids and whiteflies.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insect pests and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then, feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production next year.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

CHECKLIST FOR THE WEEK

Your weekly checklist of activities in the garden.

Keywords:

fall vegetables seeds Sacramento vegetables summer garden heat summer fruit summer vegetables garden checklist deadheading summer

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Temperatures will be a bit higher than normal in the afternoons this week. Take care of chores early in the day – then enjoy the afternoon. It’s time to smell the roses.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. If you haven’t already, it’s time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

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

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.

* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* 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.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Don’t forget to water. Seedlings need moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

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