Sacramento Digs Gardening: Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Oct. 27

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.

CHECKLIST FOR THE WEEK

Your weekly checklist of activities in the garden.

Keywords:

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Garden Checklist for week of May 19

Temperatures will be a bit higher than normal in the afternoons this week. Take care of chores early in the day – then enjoy the afternoon. It’s time to smell the roses.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. If you haven’t already, it’s time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.

* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Don’t forget to water. Seedlings need moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

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