New month starts with warm days and good planting weather
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Clip off spent roses for continued bloom this spring. This is Pinkerbelle, a hybrid tea. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)
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Those April showers will help May flowers. You’ll see the proof very soon.
Recent precipitation refreshed our gardens, but it was only a sip. Keep an eye on your soil moisture as temperatures spike back up. New seedlings could easily wilt.
According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento could see 90 degrees on Wednesday. Before and after that peak, our afternoon highs should be in the low 80s, just above average. Normal for the first week of May: 80 degrees.
Our “rainy” season is just about over; May averages 0.68 inches of rain. (If that materializes, we’ll take it.) In the meantime, keep new transplants watered. Slow and deep irrigation will encourage strong roots and better drought resistance during dry times ahead.
After planting, apply a layer of organic mulch (leaves, bark, straw, etc.) to help retain moisture.
* Plant, plant, plant! May is prime planting season in the Sacramento area. 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. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)
* 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.
* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.
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Garden Checklist for week of Oct. 6
Get ready to get to work! Cooler weather is headed our way mid-week.
* Clean up the summer vegetable garden and compost disease-free foliage.
* Harvest pumpkins and winter squash.
* October is the best month to plant trees, shrubs and perennials.
* Before planting, add a little well-aged compost and bone meal to the soil, but hold off on other fertilizers until spring. Keep the transplants well-watered (but not wet) for the first month as they become settled.
* Dig up corms and tubers of gladioli, dahlias and tuberous begonias after the foliage dies. Clean and store in a cool, dry place.
* Treat azaleas, gardenias and camellias with chelated iron if leaves are yellowing between the veins.
* Now is the time to plant seeds for many flowers directly into the garden, including cornflower, nasturtium, nigella, poppy, portulaca, sweet pea and stock.
* Plant seeds for radishes, bok choy, mustard, spinach and peas.
* Plant garlic and onions.
* Set out cool-weather bedding plants, including calendula, pansy, snapdragon, primrose and viola.
* Reseed and feed the lawn. Work on bare spots.
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