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Dig In: Garden checklist for week of June 9

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JUN 8, 2019

Straw mulch retains soil moisture and keeps roots cool during hot weather. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)

Help your garden cope with triple-digit heat

The heat is on! After several days of relatively mild temperatures, triple-digit highs are in the immediate forecast – about 15 degrees above normal for mid-June.

Is your garden ready?

Help your tomatoes and other veggies cope with these tips:

* Generally, tomatoes need deep watering two to three times a week, but don't let them dry out completely. That can encourage blossom-end rot. On average, each tomato plant needs about five gallons a week.

Tomato flowers may not set fruit during triple-digit days.

* One consequence of hot weather: Tomatoes may drop their flowers without setting fruit. Tomato pollen loses its fertility over 95 degrees.

* Mulch, mulch, mulch! This “blanket” keeps moisture in the soil longer and helps your plants cope during hot weather. Mulch can help reduce heat stress.

* Avoid pot “hot feet.” Place a 1-inch-thick board under container plants sitting on pavement. This little cushion helps insulate them from radiated heat.

* Feed camellias, azaleas and other acid-loving plants. Make sure to water first.

* Let the grass grow longer. Set the mower blades high to reduce stress on your lawn during summer heat. To cut down on evaporation, water your lawn deeply during the wee hours of the morning, between 2 and 8 a.m.

* From seed, plant corn, pumpkins, radishes, squash and sunflowers.

* Plant basil transplants to go with your tomatoes.

* Transplant summer annuals such as petunias, marigolds and zinnias. They’ll help attract pollinators to your summer vegetables.

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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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