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Dig In: Garden checklist for week of July 19

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JUL 18, 2020

Keep an eye on squash in the heat. That pattypan squash could be the size of a salad plate in no time at all. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Heat is normal for mid July; take advantage of coming cooldown

Mid July represents the peak of Sacramento heat. The next three weeks average higher temperatures than any other time of the year -- including afternoon highs of 94 degrees.

This week also held a milestone. The hottest day in Sacramento history -- a scorching 114 degrees -- was recorded on July 17, 1925, just 95 years ago.

So what are we complaining about? With a spike here and there, recent July weather has been totally normal. Expect another mild spike this weekend before several days in the low 90s or cooler.

It's time to get things done:

* Keep your vegetable garden watered, mulched and weeded. Water before 8 a.m. to reduce the chance of fungal infection and to conserve moisture.

* Water, then fertilize vegetables and blooming annuals, perennials and shrubs to give them a boost. Feeding flowering plants every other week will extend their season. Bone meal and other fertilizers high in phosphates will help stimulate bloom.

* Give tomatoes a deep watering two to three times a week. Harvest vegetables promptly to encourage plants to produce more. Squash especially tends to grow rapidly in hot weather. Keep an eye on zucchini.

*Pinch off blooms from basil so the plant will grow more leaves.

* For late summer color, put in petunias, snapdragons, zinnias and marigolds as transplants.

* From seed, plant corn, pumpkins, radishes, winter squash and sunflowers.

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CHECKLIST FOR THE WEEK

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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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