Sacramento Digs Gardening Article
Your resource for Sacramento-area gardening news, tips and events

Articles Recipe Index Keyword Index Calendar Twitter Facebook Instagram About Us Contact Us

Dig In: Garden checklist for week of May 24

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED MAY 23, 2020

Sun and sunflowers: It's almost summer in Sacramento, but it surely will fee like it the next few days. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Prepare for hot days to come; check your irrigation

The heat is on! What would you expect on Memorial Day Weekend?
May goes out on a hot streak with a string of days in the high 90s. According to the National Weather Service, we may see 100 degrees on Tuesday or Wednesday before "cooling" down into the mid 90s.
Concentrate your gardening efforts this long weekend by making your garden as comfortable as possible and helping it cope with the heat to come.

* Check your irrigation. Are your drip emitters putting the water where it's needed? Are they all working? Are they delivering enough water for growing plants?
* Deep water trees, shrubs, perennials, berries and vegetables.
* Plant anything lately? It needs water, too. Be consistent with irrigation.
* Try to water in the early morning or evening; there's less evaporation and less waste.
* Mulch, mulch, mulch. Check for bare spots where ground is baking. But avoid mounding mulch around trunks or main stems; leave a 6- to 12-inch circle open to avoid crown rot.
* 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.
* Put your veggie garden on a regular diet. Set up a monthly feeding program, and keep track on your calendar. Make sure to water your garden before applying any fertilizer to prevent “burning” your plants.
* Are birds picking your fruit off trees before it’s ripe? Try hanging strips of aluminum foil on tree branches. The shiny, dangling strips help deter birds from making themselves at home.
* It's not too late to add a few more tomatoes, peppers or other summer favorites.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed or transplant sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters.
* Plant dahlia tubers.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

CHECKLIST FOR THE WEEK

Your weekly checklist of activities in the garden.

Keywords:

seeds Sacramento pests garden chores fruit trees deadheading irrigation gardening vegetables heat checklist flowers

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Local News

Dig In: Garden Checklist

For week of March 26:

Sacramento can expect another inch of rain from this latest storm. Leave the sprinklers off at least another week. Temps will dip down into the low 30s early in the week, so avoid planting tender seedlings (such as tomatoes). Concentrate on these tasks before or after this week’s rain:

* Fertilize roses, annual flowers and berries as spring growth begins to appear.

* Knock off aphids with a strong blast of water or some bug soap as soon as they appear.

* 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.

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

* Feed citrus trees, which are now in bloom and setting fruit.

To prevent sunburn and borer problems on young trees, paint the exposed portion of the trunk with diluted white latex (water-based) interior paint. Dilute the paint with an equal amount of cold water before application.

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

* Seed and renovate the lawn (if you still have one). Feed cool-season grasses such as bent, blue, rye and fescue with a slow-release fertilizer. Check the irrigation system and perform maintenance. Make sure sprinkler heads are turned toward the lawn, not the sidewalk.

* In the vegetable garden, transplant lettuce and kale.

* Seed chard and beets directly into the ground.

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

* Shop for perennials. Many varieties are available in local nurseries and at plant events. They can be transplanted now while the weather remains relatively cool.

Sites We Like

Send us a gardening question, a post suggestion or information about an upcoming event. sacdigsgardening@gmail.com