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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.

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Garden Checklist for week of April 21

This week there’s plenty to keep gardeners busy. With no rain in the immediate forecast, remember to irrigate any new transplants.

* Weed, weed, weed! Get them before they flower and go to seed.

* April is the last chance to plant citrus trees such as dwarf orange, lemon and kumquat. These trees also look good in landscaping and provide fresh fruit in winter.

* Smell orange blossoms? Feed citrus trees with a low dose of balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) during bloom to help set fruit. Keep an eye out for ants.

* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.

* Thoroughly clean debris from the bottom of outdoor ponds or fountains.

* Spring brings a flush of rapid growth, and that means your garden is really hungry. Feed shrubs and trees with a slow-release fertilizer. Or mulch with a 1-inch layer of compost.

* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.

* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.

* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.

* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.

* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, radishes and squash.

* Plant onion sets.

* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias.

* Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.

* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom.

* Mid to late April is about the last chance to plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.

* Transplant lettuce seedlings. Choose varieties that mature quickly such as loose leaf.

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