Sacramento Digs Gardening: Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Aug. 29

Keep harvesting tomatoes as they ripen; give the plants a spritz if they have a

lot of ash accumulated on them. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

September brings cooldown and another planting season

Relief is on its way! August ends with another smoky triple-digit weekend. But September starts Wednesday with some much needed coolness and (we hope) cleaner air.

According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento will smolder through Sunday with a forecast high of 101. Then, light winds will start to blow away the haze and bring high temperatures down. By Wednesday, we’ll be back in the mid 80s for the rest of the week.

Weather then will be ideal for setting out cool-season vegetables: Not too hot in the afternoon, but still warm and cozy after dark.

Wait this weekend, then get started in earnest on your fall and winter vegetable garden. Although there’s plenty to keep busy, avoid outdoor activity during poor air quality.

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

* Pull plants that have finished producing and compost.

* Cultivate and add compost or other amendments to the soil to replenish its nutrients for the next season of 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, cauliflower, lettuce and other greens.

* 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 bearded iris as well as other rhizomes, bulbs and perennials.

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

CHECKLIST FOR THE WEEK

Your weekly checklist of activities in the garden.

Keywords:

harvest seeds tomatoes Sacramento garden chores smoke weather fall planting gardening vegetables heat checklist perennials summer

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Food in My Back Yard Series

June 17: Help pollinators help your garden

June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests

June 3: Make your own compost

May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?

May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days

May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can

May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success

April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?

April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)

April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers

April 8: When to plant summer vegetables

April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths

March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth

March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space

March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds

March 4: Potatoes from the garden

Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later

Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space

Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants

Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting

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Garden Checklist for week of June 22

Mornings this first week of summer will remain comfortably cool – just right for gardening!

* Water early in the morning to cut down on evaporation. Check soil moisture and deep water trees and shrubs. Keep new transplants and veggies evenly moist. Deep water tomatoes to encourage deep roots.

* From seed, plant corn, melons, pumpkins, radishes, squash and sunflowers.

* Plant basil to go with your tomatoes.

* Transplant summer annuals such as petunias, marigolds and zinnias. It’s also a good time to transplant perennial flowers including astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia, salvia and verbena.

* Tie up vines and stake tall plants such as gladiolus and lilies. That gives their heavy flowers some support.

* Dig and divide crowded bulbs after the tops have died down.

* Feed summer flowers with a slow-release fertilizer.

* Mulch, mulch, mulch! This “blanket” keeps moisture in the soil longer and helps your plants cope during hot weather.

* Avoid pot “hot feet.” Place a 1-inch-thick board under container plants sitting on pavement. This little cushion helps insulate them from radiated heat.

* Thin grapes on the vine for bigger, better clusters later this summer.

* Cut back fruit-bearing canes on berries.

* Feed camellias, azaleas and other acid-loving plants. Mulch to conserve moisture and reduce heat stress.

* Cut back Shasta daisies after flowering to encourage a second bloom in the fall.

* Trim off dead flowers from rose bushes to keep them blooming through the summer. Roses also benefit from deep watering and feeding now. A top dressing of aged compost will keep them happy. It feeds as well as keeps roots moist.

* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushier plants with many more flowers in September.

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