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Check your soil moisture and save


This little frog sits atop a free moisture meter. Get one from the Regional Water Authority. (Photo courtesy RWA)

Free meter is a handy way to know when garden needs water

During hot summer weather, Sacramento gardeners often ponder the same question: Is my garden getting enough water? Next question: How do you tell?

Check the soil.

You can dig down with a trowel and actually look at the soil. Plunge a screwdriver into the dirt to see if it penetrates. Or you can check the soil with a moisture meter.

The Regional Water Authority, the umbrella organization over greater Sacramento’s 21 water districts and agencies, is now offering free moisture meters for area residents.

“They’re a low-tech answer (to efficient irrigation),” said Amy Talbot, RWA’s water efficiency program manager. “They’re tangible, visual reminders every day. They’re easy to use. You can get your kids involved; let them check the moisture. We want people to use them.”

Like an instant-read thermometer, the moisture meters are super easy to use. Just plunge the probe into the soil and it tells you if the ground is too dry, too wet or that just right moist spot in between.

These meters also can be key to a healthier garden.

“In non-drought years, focus on making your plants healthy,” Talbot said. “That means giving them the right amount of water; not too little, but not too much.”

The froggy meters are part of RWA’s “Check the Soil and Save” campaign. To get your free moisture meter, go to
BeWaterSmart.info

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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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