Sacramento Digs Gardening: Get ready for hot days ahead

Straw on top of newspaper is a good start for mulch in the vegetable garden -- maybe add some more straw with warmer weather coming. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Make your plants comfortable with a little TLC now

It’s only the first week of May, but it already feels like summer.

That’s actually pretty normal, according to the National Weather Service. This week last year, Sacramento hit 100 degrees – the first triple-digit day of 2019.

We’re not expected to get that hot this week, although several days in the 90s are forecast. But those 100-degree days are not far away. If we aren’t comfortable, how will our plants handle the summer heat?

Take some time now to help your garden cope with the heat to come. Not only will your plants stay better hydrated, they’ll suffer less disease, too.

Follow this advice from the UC Cooperative Extension master gardeners:

* Deep-water trees and shrubs. This helps build their reserves and trains their roots to go deep.

* Create water basins around trees, shrubs and many summer vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. A basin holds in extra water just a little longer so it slowly seeps into soil. It’s easy to make a basin: Around the plant, build a soil berm about 3 inches high and at least 1 foot from the main stem (for tomatoes) to 6 feet (for trees). But don’t let water stand against trunks or main stems; that can cause crown rot.

* Mulch, mulch, mulch! Put down a layer of insulating organic mulch (leaves, straw, wood chips, etc.) about 3 to 4 inches deep around trees and shrubs as well as any bare areas in the vegetable garden. Leave a circle open around the trunks or main stems of plants (again, this is to avoid crown rot and other issues). Mulch conserves moisture and keeps plant roots comfortable. It also adds nutrients to the soil, protects soil microbes and controls weeds. What’s not to like?

* Check your sprinklers and irrigation system. Now is the time to make adjustments and repairs.

* Water early in the day. This both conserves water and cuts down on fungal diseases.

* One good thing about high heat: It wipes out many fungal disease problems. Powdery mildew disappears as the temperature rises.

GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

Sacramento trees heat stress irrigation summer weather weather gardening sprinklers fungal diseases heat mulch water basins crown rot

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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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