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Dig In: Garden checklist for week of July 21


Coneflowers ( Echinacea ) can be grown from seed. Start some now for fall planting.  (Photos: Kathy Morrison)

What to plant now: Start thinking fall



Relatively mild summer weather draws gardeners outdoors, even newbies who have never grown a tomato. Ever-hopeful procrastinators want to know: What can you plant now?

Stick to crops that appreciate warm nights and hot, dry days. That includes several fall vegetables such as winter squash and pumpkins. Maybe even squeeze in some corn.

According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento will enjoy high temperatures just above 90 degrees for the next few days before creeping back toward triple digits.

So far, this has been a "cool" July, traditionally Sacramento's hottest time of the year. This month, we've only flirted with 100 degrees, a mark Sacramento hit four days in June.

It's not too hot to plant some seeds or add more transplants, but remember to keep them hydrated. Plants, like people, need extra water in mid-summer.

There's still time to plant some late-summer corn, but it
will need plenty of water.
* In the garden, direct seed beans, corn, pumpkins, radishes, winter squash and sunflowers. In spots with afternoon shade, plant beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your vegetables a deep watering twice a week, more often if planted in containers.

* Harvest garlic and onions. Pull them before they flower.

* Divide and transplant bearded iris.

* Pinch back mums for bushier plants and more flowers.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* Be on the lookout for hungry bugs!

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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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