Sacramento Digs Gardening: When to start summer seeds indoors? A reassessment

Tomato seed packets are marked with the date the seeds were started each year — all in February. Tomato seeds generally are good for three years if they are stored properly. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Those old familiar dates need some rethinking

My tomato and pepper seed packets tell the tale: I usually start planting indoors the first week of February, adding to the starts through the third week of the month as time and supply allow.

Figure six to 10 days to germinate, then several weeks indoors. I slowly move the little plants to six-packs and then outside to a sheltered spot, finally choosing the plants that will win places in the garden and giving them their own 1-gallon pots. This all culminates in Tomato Planting Day right around April 28, which happens to be "Farmer Fred" Hoffman's designated date, and his birthday as well.

In theory, the plants then have all the rest of the spring to get established, finally producing ripe fruit in July.

Ah, but climate change is wreaking havoc with my comfortable schedule. In each of the past four years, there has been a nasty hot spell in June. My calendars from 2015 through 2018 each have HOT written across at least three consecutive days in June; in 2017 it was seven straight days, from June 17 to 23. In 2015, it hit 105 degrees on June 8.

For a tomato grower, that means your precious plants shut down production, as a protective measure, just when they should be setting their first fruit. The yellow blossoms just sit there, or even fall off. The bees aren't out either, goodness knows.

One year might be a fluke, but four years of this? I think it’s time to reassess the schedule.

If I kick everything back three weeks, my starts should begin around Jan. 13, which is Sunday! I could plant most of the tomato garden around April 7 or even March 31. Since the latest average frost date for Sacramento is March 23 or so, I’d escape that, but it still might be cold. Or wet.

It’s a gamble, but those four years of calendars don’t lie: It’s getting warmer earlier.

This is why I could never be a farmer.

Note: Debbie and I will be writing several posts on seeds. seed catalogs

and seed starting. Let us know what your plans are for the coming season.

GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

seeds tomatoes Sacramento peppers planting season advice Farmer Fred Hoffman tomato seed starting tomato experts weather gardening summer vegetables climate change

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Garden Checklist for week of May 12

Get your gardening chores and irrigation done early in the day before temperatures rise.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. 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. This heat will cause leafy greens and onions to flower; pick them before they bolt.

* 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.

* Got fruit trees? If you haven't already done so, thin orchard fruit such as apples, peaches, pears, pluots and plums before they grow too heavy, breaking branches or even splitting the tree. Leave the largest fruit on the branch, culling the smaller ones, and allow for 5 to 6 inches (or a hand's worth) between each fruit.

* Thin grape bunches, again leaving about 6 inches between them. For the remaining bunches, prune off the "tail" end, about the bottom third of the bunch, so that the plant's energy is concentrated in the fruit closest to the branch.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier 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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