Sacramento Digs Gardening: Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Nov. 11

The weather and smoke together are shutting down Sacramento gardeners' tomato vines. Time to p ick or compost your unripened tomatoes. (Photos: Debbie Arrington)

Time to pull vines; smoke and colder weather halt tomato production

Time to give up on Christmas tomatoes.

Spread in a single layer, green
tomatoes will ripen off the vine.

Heavy smoke and changing weather patterns plunged temperatures from 10 to 15 degrees above normal in the Sacramento region just a week ago to five degrees below normal. In addition, overnight temperatures are dipping into the very low 40s.

So, all those tomato vines that pushed out new blooms just wasted their energy. Wildfire smoke will keep bees inactive, so those yellow flowers won't get pollinated. And the temperatures have cooled off so much, the fruit won't set or develop.

So, if you haven't already, pull the vines.

What to do with those green tomatoes? If they've grown enough to develop seed sacs inside, they likely will ripen off the vine. Place in a single layer in a warm dry place (such as the kitchen counter). They'll take a few weeks to turn fully red. Maybe, there will be Christmas tomatoes after all.

(Don't want to wait? Kathy will have a recipe in Sunday's post that uses green tomatoes.)

That wildfire smoke makes it unhealthful to be outdoors. But when and if the smoke clears, here are some tasks that may need attention:

* To help prevent leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves. 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.

* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.

* 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 peas, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* 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.

CHECKLIST FOR THE WEEK

Your weekly checklist of activities in the garden.

Keywords:

cool-weather annuals seeds tomatoes Sacramento peach leaf curl trees garden chores wildflowers fall planting gardening chelated iron vegetables. bulbs

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Food in My Back Yard Series

April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers

April 8: When to plant summer vegetables

April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths

March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth

March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds

March 4: Potatoes from the garden

Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space

Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting

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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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