Settle in for some normal August warmth after temperature drop
Tomatoes should get back to their regular fruit set and growth schedules with the return to more typical summer weather. Harvest when ripe to keep the plant producing. Kathy Morrison
After so many triple-digit days in July and early August, low 90s never felt so good.
Sacramento can expect some very pleasant summer weather this week – good news for our tomatoes!
According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento will see high temperatures in the low 90s, maybe even 80s, for the next six days starting Sunday. Overnight lows will be nice, too, cooling off to about 60 degrees. That’s totally normal for mid August; this month in Sacramento averages highs of 91 and lows of 58.
With these lower temperatures, tomato flowers will start to set fruit again. (The high heat dried pollen almost instantly, preventing fruit set.) Deep-water and fertilize plants with bone meal or balanced tomato food.
Humidity will be low, which means fire danger remains high. Don’t make sparks!
Otherwise, this looks like a great week to catch up on garden TLC.
* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing.
* Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers.
* Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting. (Always water before feeding.)
* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.
* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s now forming.
* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don’t let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.
* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Feed them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.
* Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.
* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.
* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias, annuals and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.
* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.
* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.
* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.
* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips. (Tip: Soak those beet seeds overnight in warm water for better germination.)
* Plant potatoes.
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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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