Sacramento Digs Gardening: Dig In: Garden checklist for week of June 23

Cut back fruit-bearing canes after berry harvest. (Photo: Debbie Arrington)

Get busy outdoors during mild days ahead

It's time to dive into summer gardening. Take advantage of cooler weather later this week to get things done.

This first summer weekend will feel like many weekends to come: Hot and a little sticky. According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento will see highs in the mid 90s on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

But then we'll slip into several days in the low 80s: Perfect summer gardening weather. A little TLC now will pay off in weeks and months to come.

* Tie up vines and stake tall plants such as gladiolus and lilies. That gives their heavy flowers some support.
* Thin grapes on the vine for bigger, better clusters later this summer.
* Cut back fruit-bearing canes on berries after harvest.
* Pick up fallen fruit and discard if unusable.
* Dig and divide crowded bulbs after the tops have died down.
* Feed summer flowers with a slow-release fertilizer. Water before and after application.
* Deep-water tomatoes, then feed with a balanced fertilizer. Bone meal can spur the bloom cycle and help set fruit.
* Cut back Shasta daisies after flowering to encourage a second bloom in the fall.
* Trim off dead flowers from rose bushes to keep them blooming through the summer.
* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushier plants with many more flowers in September.

Coneflowers add some bright color to the summer garden. Now is a good

time to transplant these and other flowering perennials. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

* From seed, plant corn, pumpkins, radishes, melons, beans, squash and sunflowers.
* Transplant summer annuals such as petunias, marigolds and zinnias.
* It’s also a good time to transplant perennial flowers including astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia, salvia and verbena.

CHECKLIST FOR THE WEEK

Your weekly checklist of activities in the garden.

Keywords:

fertilizing seeds tomatoes Sacramento roses garden chores deadheading weather gardening heat summer annuals tree fruit bulbs perennials summer

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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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