Sacramento Digs Gardening: Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Sept. 15

Persimmons are ripening -- be sure to pick up any that fall off the tree. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)

Rain possible on Monday, then great weather to close out summer

Change is in the air – and it’s not just smoke.

According to the National Weather Service, the greater Sacramento area has a 40 percent chance of rain Monday. This could be the first real precipitation in weeks, but not that unusual. September averages .29 inches of rain.

But after this storm system blows through, the sun will return. Fortunately, high temperatures most of this coming week will be in the low 80s.

Make the most of this prime almost-fall weather by getting your garden ready for the months ahead.

* Do your tomato plants have new flowers? Leave them in place for a little longer. If the fruit sets, those tomatoes will be ripe for Thanksgiving or Christmas.

* Peppers and eggplant with new blooms may set late-season fruit, too.

*Keep an eye on squash, melons and pumpkins. Summer varieties are still blooming and fruiting.

* Cut back on water as melons ripen.

* Compost annuals and vegetable crops that have finished producing.

* Cultivate and add compost to the soil to replenish its nutrients for fall and winter vegetables and flowers.

* Pick up fallen apples, pears and persimmons; they attract pests as they rot.

* Fertilize deciduous fruit trees.

* Divide and replant bulbs, rhizomes and perennials.

* Dig up and divide daylilies as they complete their bloom cycle.

* Divide and transplant peonies that have become overcrowded. Replant with "eyes" about an inch below the soil surface.

* 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.

* Transplant pansies, violas, fairy primroses, calendulas, stocks and snapdragons.

* Late September is ideal for sowing a new lawn or re-seeding bare spots.

CHECKLIST FOR THE WEEK

Your weekly checklist of activities in the garden.

Keywords:

fall vegetables peonies Sacramento daylilies garden chores fruit trees lawn weather fall planting gardening rainfall bulbs compost perennials watering

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Food in My Back Yard Series

April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?

April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers

April 8: When to plant summer vegetables

April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths

March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth

March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds

March 4: Potatoes from the garden

Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space

Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting

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Garden Checklist for week of April 27

Once the clouds clear, get to work. Spring growth is in high gear.

* Set out tomato, pepper and eggplant transplants.

* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, radishes and squash. Plant onion sets.

* 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 and dahlia tubers for summer bloom. Late April is about the last chance to plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.

* Transplant lettuce and cabbage seedlings.

* Weed, weed, weed! Don’t let unwanted plants go to seed.

* April is the last chance to plant citrus trees such as dwarf orange, lemon and kumquat. These trees also look good in landscaping and provide fresh fruit in winter.

* Feed citrus trees with a low dose of balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) during bloom to help set fruit. Keep an eye out for ants.

* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.

* Thoroughly clean debris from the bottom of outdoor ponds or fountains.

* Start thinning fruit that's formed on apple and stone fruit trees -- you'll get larger fruit at harvest (and avoid limb breakage) if some is thinned now. The UC recommendation is to thin fruit when it is about 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Peaches and nectarines should be thinned to about 6 inches apart; smaller fruit such as plums and pluots can be about 4 inches apart. Apricots can be left at 3 inches apart. Apples and pears should be thinned to one fruit per cluster of flowers, 6 to 8 inches apart.

* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.

* 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.

* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.

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