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It's not too late to plant a garden

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JUL 1, 2020

Plant seeds now and grow your own pumpkin patch. (Photos: Kathy Morrison)

Midsummer possibilities: Corn, pumpkins, winter squash

Happy July! Usually this month ushers in a whirlwind of summer activities including the State Fair. Due to COVID concerns, it looks like we'll be staying close to home, just as we have for the past three months.

Is it too late to plant a vegetable garden?

It's never too late -- or too early -- to plant a garden in Sacramento. It just depends on what you plan to plant.

July represents a month of possibilities, especially when the weather has cooled just a bit. While tomatoes and peppers are producing their first harvests, several other warm weather crops are just now going into the ground.

What to plant now?

Corn: Planted now, it will produce ears around Labor Day. Corn needs other stalks nearby for pollination. For best results, plant in blocks (such as 12 by 12 plants) instead of single or double rows. Corn needs a lot of water, so make sure sprouts stay well watered.

Pumpkins: This is prime pumpkin planting weather. Seeded now, they'll be ready for Halloween -- or a little earlier. They like a mound layered with aged compost or manure and room to roam; their vines can cover easily cover a 10-foot-square space. To thrive, those fast-growing vines need deep watering twice a week.

Winter squash: Butternut, acorn and other favorites can go in the ground now for fall harvest. Treat them like pumpkins, their close cousins.

Sunflowers work as both summer and early fall

flowers. Bees like them anytime.

Sunflowers: They're fast and fun. Planted now, they'll produce big fall bouquets. And the bees will thank you.

Radishes: The fastest-growing vegetable in the garden is fun for kids. They'll be ready to pick in August.

Want more flowers? It's not too late to add a splash of color. Plant petunias, snapdragons, zinnias and marigolds.

Just remember to keep everything consistently watered and mulched. Then, plan on enjoying a fall harvest from your summer shut-in garden.

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An article about gardening.

Keywords:

seeds gardening pumpkins Sacramento sunflowers coronavirus vegetable gardening summer flowers corn flowers

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Garden Checklist for week of July 21

Your garden needs you!

* Keep your vegetable garden watered, mulched and weeded. Water before 8 a.m. to reduce the chance of fungal infection and to conserve moisture.

* Feed vegetable plants bone meal, rock phosphate or other fertilizers high in phosphate to stimulate more blooms and fruiting. (But wait until daily high temperatures drop out of the 100s.)

* Don’t let tomatoes wilt or dry out completely. Give tomatoes a deep watering two to three times a week.

* Harvest vegetables promptly to encourage plants to produce more. Squash especially tends to grow rapidly in hot weather. Keep an eye on zucchini.

* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushy plants and more flowers in September.

* Remove spent flowers from roses, daylilies and other bloomers as they finish flowering.

* Pinch off blooms from basil so the plant will grow more leaves.

* Cut back lavender after flowering to promote a second bloom.

* It's not too late to add a splash of color. Plant petunias, snapdragons, zinnias and marigolds.

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

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