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Dig In: Garden checklist for week of March 20

Spring starts with four days in the 80s

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED MAR 19, 2022

It's apple blossom time -- and time to feed flowering trees and shrubs. (Photo: Debbie Arrington)

Spring arrives Sunday, followed by what looks like a record heat wave.

According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento can expect four days in the 80s, starting Tuesday. This May-like weather peaks at 85 degrees on Wednesday, which would be a record for that date. The all-time hottest March day in Sacramento: 88 degrees.

This spike is 20 degrees higher than Sacramento’s average for mid-March – 65 degrees. Overnight lows (50-53 degrees) are also considerably higher than normal (44 degrees). Those two trends may warm soil up enough to start planting tomatoes – but not quite yet.

A cooldown to more-normal March temperatures is expected next weekend. Hopefully, more rain will follow.

As of noon, Saturday’s storm was less than spectacular. Although there were lots of clouds, rain wasn’t hitting the ground. The weather service lowered its rain estimate to 0.10 inches for most of Sacramento.

“Radar looks more impressive than reality,” the Sacramento NWS office tweeted Saturday morning. “Dry air has largely prevented rain from making it to the Valley surface (virga); only a trace of rain reported at Sac Exec & Int'l (airports). Chance of showers & even a rumble of thunder will be possible for the Valley through sunset.”

Check your soil moisture to see if your garden got the rain it needed. If not, give everything a deep soaking to prepare your plants for the heat ahead.

* Fertilize roses, annual flowers and berries as spring growth appears. Always water before fertilizing.

* Look out for aphids. Blast them off plants with a stream of water.

* Pull weeds now! Don’t let them get started. Take a hoe and whack them as soon as they sprout.

* Prepare summer vegetable beds. Spade in compost and other amendments.

* Prune and fertilize spring-flowering shrubs after bloom. Try using well-composted manure, spread 1-inch thick under the tree. This serves as both fertilizer and mulch, retaining moisture while cutting down on weeds.

* Feed camellias at the end of their bloom cycle. Pick up browned and fallen flowers to help corral blossom blight.

* Feed citrus trees as they start to bloom.

* Cut back and fertilize perennial herbs to encourage new growth.

* Seed and renovate the lawn.

* In the vegetable garden, transplant lettuce and cole family plants, such as broccoli, collards and kale.

* Seed chard and beets directly into the ground. (Beet seeds benefit from soaking first.)

* Plant summer bulbs, including gladiolus, tuberous begonias and callas. Also plant dahlia tubers.

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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.

* Plant potatoes.

* 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.

* 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 still small.

* 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? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* 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 and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* 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.

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