Sacramento Digs Gardening: Dig In: Garden checklist for week of April 5

The buds on this Genoa lemon are forming -- time to pick the last of the lemons! This tree also could use a dose of

fertilizer. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)

Hold off on tomatoes; they won't be happy outdoors

April can be unpredictable. So far this month, we've seen examples throughout our lives.

Weatherwise, we've bounced from highs flirting with 80 degrees back down to temperatures 10 degrees below normal. Although days have been sunny, nights are still dipping into the low 40s.

In addition, we're getting wet! After Saturday's rain, expect more Sunday and Monday. The National Weather Service issued a thunderstorm alert for the Valley, warning of possible gusty winds, heavy rain, lightning and even hail. Conditions are right that a weak tornado could pop up, too.

So, keep waiting on transplanting your tomatoes. Summer vegetables need warm soil and nights in the 50s before going in the ground.

What should you be doing this week?
* Harvest oranges, lemons and other citrus fruit. The trees want to bloom and need to shed last year's remaining fruit.
* Feed citrus with a low dose of balanced fertilizer during this month’s bloom and fruit set. If leaves look yellow, your tree may need an iron boost. Feed with a chelated iron fertilizer.
* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.
* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.

Trim the blooms from spent daffodils and other spring-flowering bulbs.

But don't trim the leaves -- let them store up energy for next year's flowers.

* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.
* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.
* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, radishes and squash.
* Plant onion sets.
* Transplant lettuce and cabbage seedlings.
* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias.
* Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.
* Plant perennials, summer bulbs and dahlia tubers.

CHECKLIST FOR THE WEEK

Your weekly checklist of activities in the garden.

Keywords:

fertilizing seeds Sacramento spring blooms garden chores lemons spring planting camellias chrysanthemums citrus gardening vegetables azaleas bulbs flowers transplants

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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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