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Dig In: Garden checklist for week of May 31

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED MAY 30, 2020

Basil is an excellent companion plant for tomatoes. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

May ends on a cool (and maybe soggy) note

May goes out with more unexpected twists -- rain and a 25-degree dip in high temperatures.
After record heat in midweek, Sacramento is back in the 70s and expected to get wet. But this change is only temporary.

According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento could receive as much as a half inch of rain from this weekend storm system with the possibility of thunderstorms and maybe hail in the foothills. Remember to turn off the sprinklers.

This cool down feels like a welcome respite after 103-degree days. Sunday and Monday are both expected to be in the low 80s before we jump up 10 degrees by Tuesday. The first week of June will see several days in the 90s. That's hot for early June, which averages 87 degrees in Sacramento.

In other words, it will soon feel like summer again.

Make the most of these cooler days and enjoy your outdoor spaces:

*Warm weather brings rapid growth in the vegetable garden. Tomatoes and squash enjoy the heat. Deep-water, then feed with a balanced fertilizer. Bone meal can spur the bloom cycle and help set fruit.
* Generally, tomatoes need deep watering two to three times a week (about 5 gallons per plant total for the week), but don't let them dry out completely between drinks. That can encourage blossom-end rot.
* Tie up vines and stake tall plants such as gladiolus and lilies. That gives their heavy flowers some support.
* Dig and divide crowded bulbs after the tops have died down.
* Feed summer flowers with a slow-release fertilizer.
* Thin grapes on the vine for bigger, better clusters later this summer.
* Cut back fruit-bearing canes on berries.
* Feed camellias, azaleas and other acid-loving plants. Mulch to conserve moisture and reduce heat stress.
* Cut back Shasta daisies after flowering to encourage a second bloom in the fall.
* Trim off dead flowers from rose bushes.
* From seed, plant beans, corn, melons, pumpkins, radishes, squash and sunflowers.
* Plant basil to go with your tomatoes.
* Transplant summer annuals such as petunias, marigolds and zinnias.
* Transplant perennial flowers including astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, gazanias, rudbeckia, salvia and verbena.

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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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