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Color alone does not indicate that a pumpkin is ready to be harvested. Wait until the outer shell hardens before picking. Use your thumbnail to test; it should dent but not puncture the pumpkin skin. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)
New season starts with dry, windy conditions
Fall begins with a last gasp of summer heat.
Conditions this week represent high fire danger for Northern California, according to the National Weather Service. Monday, the first official day of fall, will see winds blowing 10 to 20 mph with gusts up to 30. Combined with extremely low humidity and warm temperatures, those winds could rapidly spread wildfires.
It’s a reminder to clean up dried grasses, pine needles and other fodder for wildfire. But be careful: Don’t create sparks with your tools or machinery.
After some hot days this week, weather will rapidly cool down in the weeks to come. Get your garden into autumn mode:
* Keep an eye on pumpkins and winter squash. If possible, elevate the ripening fruit or put something underneath them to avoid rot on the bottom. They’re ready to pick when the skin is fully colored and starting to harden; when pressed with your thumbnail, the skin will dent but not puncture. Another sign they’re ready for harvest: The stem will dry out.
* Cultivate and add compost to the soil to replenish its nutrients for fall and winter vegetables and flowers.
* Fertilize deciduous fruit trees.
* Plant onions, lettuce, peas, radishes, turnips, beets, carrots, bok choy, spinach and potatoes directly into the vegetable beds.
* Transplant cabbage, broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and lettuce seedlings.
* Sow seeds of California poppies, clarkia and African daisies.
* Transplant pansies, violas, fairy primroses, calendulas, stocks, snapdragons and other cool-season flowers.
* Late September is ideal for sowing a new lawn or re-seeding 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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