Sacramento Digs Gardening: Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Nov. 22

Just a little bit of leaf curl evident in these fallen peach leaves. It's best to dispose of diseased plant
material, not compost it. And once all the leaves have fallen, be ready to spray copper fungicide on the peach or nectarine tree, specially while the weather's still dry. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Sunny days and chilly nights; that's our forecast for Thanksgiving week.
According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento days will be bright and crisp with highs in the low 60s. Under clear skies, overnight lows will dip into the 30s but stay warm enough to avoid frost. Breezes will be mild, too.

Sounds like perfect late November gardening weather!

* Save dry stalks and seedpods from poppies and coneflowers for fall bouquets and holiday decorating.
* 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.
* 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 and best applied in current dry conditions.
* Give your azaleas, gardenias and camellias a boost with chelated iron.
* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.
* Plant daffodils, crocuses, anemones and scillas. Remember to take tulips and hyacinths out of the refrigerator and plant them, too.
* Seed wildflowers including poppies.
* Plant sweet pea, sweet alyssum, bachelor buttons and other spring favorites.
* You can still plant or transplant 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 (but don't.

CHECKLIST FOR THE WEEK

Your weekly checklist of activities in the garden.

Keywords:

cool-weather annuals Sacramento peach leaf curl fall trees garden checklist fall planting gardening garlic chelated iron fall weather checklist bulbs compost

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Garden Checklist for week of Jan. 19

Dress warmly in layers – and get to work:

* Apply horticultural oil to fruit trees to control scale, mites and aphids. Oils need 24 hours of dry weather after application to be effective.

* This is also the time to spray a copper-based oil to peach and nectarine trees to fight leaf curl. The safest effective fungicides available for backyard trees are copper soap -- aka copper octanoate -- or copper ammonium, a fixed copper fungicide. Apply either of these copper products with 1% horticultural oil to increase effectiveness.

* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.

* Now is the time to prune fruit trees. Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease. (The exceptions are apricot and cherry trees, which are susceptible to a fungus that causes dieback if pruned now. Save those until summer.)

* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.

* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.

* When forced bulbs sprout, move them to a cool, bright window. Give them a quarter turn each day so the stems will grow straight.

* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.

* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.

* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.

* Plant bare-root roses, trees and shrubs.

* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.

* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.

* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.

* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranunculus and gladioli for bloom from late spring into summer.

* Plant blooming azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons. If you’re shopping for these beautiful landscape plants, you can now find them in full flower at local nurseries.

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