As Sacramento weather finally feels like spring, expect rapid changes in your garden
Enjoy spring flowers while you can. They'll be gone soon. Kathy Morrison
Is your garden ready for the 70s?
Sacramento temperatures are expected to warm up dramatically – at least for a few days. After a rainy (and very cool) Friday, Sacramento could see 78 degrees on Monday, according to the National Weather Service. We’ll also see a warm and sunny Easter Sunday with a predicted high of 76.
Normal for this week in Sacramento: 71 degrees.
But another cold front is expected to tamp down temperatures again midweek with a high of 64 degrees on Wednesday and overnight lows in the low 40s. Don’t worry if you just set out your tomatoes; the long-term forecast sees more 70s coming soon.
Usually, we’re hotter by now. On average, Sacramento sees its first 80-degree day on March 27. We haven’t topped 80 degrees all year. March 13 and 17 both recorded highs of 68 degrees, and that’s as warm as it got all month. On Feb. 12, we hit 72 degrees (and expected an early spring); that was our warmest day of 2023. It’s been kind of damp and chilly ever since.
So far, Thursday (April 6) was our warmest April day at 65 degrees – six degrees below normal for that date. Nights have also remained cold; four out of the first five nights in April dipped down into the 30s with one frost warning.
That’s kept the ground cold, too, and slowed growth of many young plants – including weeds.
So, if your early vegetables are just kind of sitting there and doing nothing, that’s why. Blame the weather.
That excuse will soon be gone. With this rapid warm-up, be ready for change:
* Enjoy the last days of spring-blooming bulbs. Our cool March extended the season for daffodils, tulips, freesias and other spring favorites. They’re fine in 70-degree weather, but will quickly fade as we approach 80 degrees. Cut some bouquets to bring indoors.
After they finish blooming, these bulbs still need water so they can finish their growth cycle. Their foliage is collecting energy for next spring’s flowers. Remove spent blooms, but keep the leaves attached until they yellow.
* Keep an eye on soil moisture. Recent rain may have dampened the mulch, but what about soil roots? Is there enough moisture where plants need it? Use a soil moisture meter or a trowel; dig down 6 inches and look.
* Container-grown plants can dry out quickly in warmer weather. Make sure to give them a drink.
* Watch seedlings and new transplants. Keep them evenly moist. Mulch will help insulate their roots.
* Attack weeds. Don’t wait; weeds love, love, love this weather – especially after a little rain.
* Be on the lookout for powdery mildew. This fungal disease is triggered by warmer weather; 72 degrees is its sweet spot. Examine rose leaves or foliage on other vulnerable plants such as peas. If you see an infected leaf, remove it immediately.
For more on powdery mildew: https://ipm.ucanr.edu/QT/powderymildewcard.html.
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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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