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Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Oct. 27

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED OCT 26, 2019

It's not too late to add fall color to your garden. (Photo: Debbie Arrington)

Pleasant fall weather great for gardening

After a blast of dry hot windy weather, our October days will return to a very pleasant pattern of low 70s in the afternoon and crisp nights in the low 40s.

In other words, Sacramento will feel and look like fall.

According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento highs will be in the mid to low 70s for seven consecutive days, below normal of 78. The colder overnight temperatures will coax out fall color in deciduous trees and sweeten apples and oranges. Pumpkins and winter squash will be ready for harvest, if they’re not picked already.

Enjoy this autumn weather and your great outdoors!

* Plant something. It’s not too late to start a cool-weather garden or add fall and winter color to your landscape.

* This is the best time to transplant shrubs, trees and most perennials.

* Remember to water deeply, especially seeds and new transplants. Wind and low humidity can suck the moisture out of the soil.

* Dig up corms and tubers of gladioli, dahlias and tuberous begonias after the foliage dies. Clean and store in a cool, dry place.

* Treat azaleas, gardenias and camellias with chelated iron if leaves are yellowing between the veins.

* Plant spring flower seeds including cornflower, nasturtium, nigella, poppy, portulaca, sweet pea and stock.

* Plant seeds for radishes, leaf lettuce, bok choy, mustard, spinach and peas.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Set out cool-weather bedding plants, including mums, calendula, pansy, snapdragon, primrose and viola.

* Reseed and feed the lawn. Work on bare spots.

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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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