In-street pick-up service wraps up for another winter
Sacramento city residents have until Monday, Jan. 29, to put leaves and other yard waste out for the Claw to pick up. Check neighborhood schedules. Courtesy City of Sacramento
Got pruning? You better hurry up if you want in-street pick-up. The Claw’s days are officially numbered for this season.
Sacramento residents who want to put their green waste in the street for pick-up have until Monday, Jan. 29, to do so. That’s the last day before the city’s fleet of Claws – Sacramento’s specialized articulated tractors – call it a season and go back to the heavy equipment barn.
For three months each year, the Claws scoop up leaf piles and other debris from city streets. It’s a unique service that residents in the City of Trees treasure as a legacy.
On average, the Claw visits each neighborhood about seven times during leaf season, which started Nov. 1.
Residents can find out when the Claw will be in their neighborhood with the Claw calendar, available on Sacramento’s official Leaf Season webpage, www.SacLeafSmart.org. Just put in your street address and the online calendar will tell you when to expect the Claw in your neighborhood.
In all, the Claw crews expect to pick up about 20,000 tons of green waste this season. Besides leaves, branches and other pruning debris are also accepted. (No tree stumps allowed.)
Although organic food waste (along with leaves and yard debris) now goes in the green-waste container, don’t dump food waste or paper into leaf piles. The Claw won’t pick them up. Instead, put such organic waste in the green-waste container.
In fact, city officials prefer that residents put as much as they can into the green-waste container before putting piles in the street.
Here are more tips:
* Leaf piles can be no bigger than 4 by 4 by 9 feet (and just one per household). Make sure there is space between the pile and the curb so water can flow down the gutter.
* Place the pile at least 6 feet away from cars, boats, basketball hoops or other obstructions. The Claw needs room to maneuver. Don’t block bike lanes.
* Don’t put plastic bags in street piles (including bags full of leaves or debris).
* And don’t contaminate the leaf pile with trash or dog poop (a common problem).
After leaf season, Sacramento residents can still arrange for special in-street pick-up of large items such as chopped-up tree limbs – as well as old appliances and furniture. From February to October, residents can get two free “Household Junk Pick-up” appointments simply by calling “311.” (Remember: Don’t put items in the street until after your pick-up is confirmed.)
For more information: SacLeafSmart.org.
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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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