Sacramento Digs Gardening: Dig In: Garden checklist for week of June 9

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.

CHECKLIST FOR THE WEEK

Your weekly checklist of activities in the garden.

Keywords:

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Garden Checklist for week of May 19

Temperatures will be a bit higher than normal in the afternoons this week. Take care of chores early in the day – then enjoy the afternoon. It’s time to smell the roses.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. If you haven’t already, it’s time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.

* Plant dahlia tubers. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Don’t forget to water. Seedlings need moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants.

* Add mulch to the garden to help keep that precious water from evaporating. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

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