Summer gets off to blazing start with string of 100-plus days
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| Harvest ripening peaches, along with apricots and plums. Hot weather is expected this next week as summer arrives. (Photo: Kathy Morrison) |
Get ready for a red-hot summer! Tuesday is officially the first day of summer – and what could be the start of a string of triple-digit days.
According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento can expect to see afternoon highs of 100 to 103 degrees Tuesday through Friday before a slight dip back into the high 90s next weekend. The forecast is relentlessly sunny and dry. Normal for mid June in Sacramento: high of 87 and low of 56.
Overnight lows also will be about 10 degrees higher than normal, hovering in the mid 60s. That makes for warm mornings, too. Irrigate before 8 a.m. to avoid quick evaporation. That’s the best time for exercise and any outdoor chores, too.
This warm spell has benefits. Say goodbye to powdery mildew! Infected leaves will fall off and (fingers crossed) soon be replaced with healthy foliage. Make sure to pick up and dispose of that mildewed foliage; otherwise, it can reinfect healthy leaves in the fall.
Hot days also prompt rapid growth of such summer favorites as tomatoes, squash and peppers. Inspect plants daily if possible. Watch for evidence of spider mites, leaf-footed bugs and tomato hornworms, and act quickly if you find them.
* Keep vegetables irrigated with even moisture in the root zone. That will help those fast-growing plants cope with high heat as well as prevent blossom end rot.
* Are plants getting enough water? Check soil with a moisture meter or feel for yourself – take a trowel and dig down 6 inches. If the soil will ball in your hand, it’s moist. If it’s powdery or (worse) if you can’t dig down 6 inches, it’s time for a deep soak.
* Mulch, mulch, mulch! This “blanket” keeps moisture in the soil longer and helps your plants cope during hot weather. Use organic material (premade mulch, wood chips, leaves, straw), but not rocks -- rocks absorb heat and will stress the plants.
* Water your lawn during the wee hours of the morning, between 2 and 8 a.m.
* If you haven’t already, upgrade lawn irrigation with rotator heads; this simple switch waters better (deeper, more complete coverage, less runoff) while saving water. Rebates are available, www.bewatersmart.info .
* Don’t fertilize during triple-digit heat. It can stress plants. Wait until another cooldown.
* 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.
* Tie up vines and stake tall plants such as gladiolus and lilies. That gives their heavy flowers some support.
* Dig and divide crowded bulbs after the tops have died down.
* Thin grapes on the vine for bigger, better clusters later this summer.
* Cut back fruit-bearing canes on berries after harvest.
* 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.
* Harvest onions and garlic.
* Harvest fruit; apricots, plums and peaches are ripening quickly. Pick up fallen fruit to dissuade pests.
* From seed or transplant, plant basil, corn, melons, bush beans, pumpkins, radishes, squash and sunflowers.
* Transplant summer annuals such as petunias, marigolds, cosmos and zinnias.
* Transplant perennial flowers including astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia, salvia and verbena.
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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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