Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Sept. 3

Rain in September? It’s not as rare in Sacramento as Labor Day weekend in the 70s, but that’s how we’re starting this new month – thanks to an unseasonably cold low-pressure system.

According to the National Weather Service, possible rain and thunderstorms are in the forecast through Saturday (Sept. 2) for more than 70% of Northern California. With or without precipitation, those clouds are keeping temperatures down.

Sacramento can expect highs of only 77 degrees on Saturday and Sunday – 15 degrees below normal for this first weekend of September. We’ll be in the 80s Monday and Tuesday before returning to the low 90s midweek.

Make the most of this cool end to summer; get started on fall gardening!

And keep that umbrella handy. Sacramento actually averages 0.29 inches of rain in September.

* September starts another season in the vegetable garden. Now is the time to plant for fall. The warm soil will get these veggies off to a fast start.

* Keep harvesting tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons and eggplant.

* Compost annuals and vegetable crops that have finished producing.

* Cultivate and add compost to the soil to replenish its nutrients for fall and winter vegetables and flowers.

* Fertilize deciduous fruit trees.

* Plant onions, lettuce, peas, radishes, turnips, beets, carrots, bok choy, spinach and potatoes directly into the vegetable beds.

* Transplant cabbage, broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower as well as lettuce seedlings.

* Sow seeds of California poppies, clarkia and African daisies.

* Transplant cool-weather annuals such as pansies, violas, fairy primroses, calendulas, stocks and snapdragons.

* Divide and replant bulbs, rhizomes and perennials.

* Dig up and divide daylilies as they complete their bloom cycle.

* Divide and transplant peonies that have become overcrowded. Replant with "eyes" about an inch below the soil surface.

* Also divide and transplant bearded irises that have become overcrowded to renew their blooming vigor.