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As summer approaches, City prepared to open weather-respite centers
As summer approaches and the temperatures rise, the City is prepared to open weather-respite centers during extreme heat. Following its use as a respite location during winter storms, the City’s O...
CASA Sacramento
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Chilly nights ahead; make most of clear days
Fallen leaves have extra benefits. You can sweep or rake them up, but leave some on the soil for mulch and in places for beneficial insects to winter under. Kathy Morrison
Keep your sweater handy – and some warm gloves, too.
Sacramento can expect another clear and chilly week, according to the National Weather Service. Daytime highs will be mostly in the low 60s before finally warming up to 66 by Thanksgiving Day. Overnight lows will dip into the 30s, flirting with frost danger.
“Near freezing temperatures are expected for the Valley and foothills through the weekend into Monday morning,” tweeted the weather service’s Sacramento office. “Don’t forget to bring your pets indoors!”
Give animals a warm, safe place to sleep, off cold floors, says the weather service.
Take care of your plants, too. Insulate new transplants with a blanket of mulch. Keep frost cloths handy for the most sensitive plants such as succulents, tropical plants and young citrus trees.
By next weekend, overnight lows are expected to warm slightly, staying above 40 degrees. Although we’ll see some clouds by midweek, no rain is in the forecast.
Stay warm by enjoying some outdoor activity, like showing your garden some TLC.
* Cold nights and gusty winds are quickly finishing off autumn foliage. Rake up fallen leaves – great for making compost. Turn some of those leaves into mulch.
* 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 – when there’s no rain in the forecast and any wind has died down.
* 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.
* Now is still a great time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from 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.
* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.
* After they bloom, chrysanthemums should be trimmed to 6 to 8 inches above the ground. If in pots, keep the mums in their containers until next spring. Then, they can be planted in the ground, if desired, or repotted.
* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.
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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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