Sacramento Digs Gardening: Get ready for hot days ahead

Straw on top of newspaper is a good start for mulch in the vegetable garden -- maybe add some more straw with warmer weather coming. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Make your plants comfortable with a little TLC now

It’s only the first week of May, but it already feels like summer.

That’s actually pretty normal, according to the National Weather Service. This week last year, Sacramento hit 100 degrees – the first triple-digit day of 2019.

We’re not expected to get that hot this week, although several days in the 90s are forecast. But those 100-degree days are not far away. If we aren’t comfortable, how will our plants handle the summer heat?

Take some time now to help your garden cope with the heat to come. Not only will your plants stay better hydrated, they’ll suffer less disease, too.

Follow this advice from the UC Cooperative Extension master gardeners:

* Deep-water trees and shrubs. This helps build their reserves and trains their roots to go deep.

* Create water basins around trees, shrubs and many summer vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. A basin holds in extra water just a little longer so it slowly seeps into soil. It’s easy to make a basin: Around the plant, build a soil berm about 3 inches high and at least 1 foot from the main stem (for tomatoes) to 6 feet (for trees). But don’t let water stand against trunks or main stems; that can cause crown rot.

* Mulch, mulch, mulch! Put down a layer of insulating organic mulch (leaves, straw, wood chips, etc.) about 3 to 4 inches deep around trees and shrubs as well as any bare areas in the vegetable garden. Leave a circle open around the trunks or main stems of plants (again, this is to avoid crown rot and other issues). Mulch conserves moisture and keeps plant roots comfortable. It also adds nutrients to the soil, protects soil microbes and controls weeds. What’s not to like?

* Check your sprinklers and irrigation system. Now is the time to make adjustments and repairs.

* Water early in the day. This both conserves water and cuts down on fungal diseases.

* One good thing about high heat: It wipes out many fungal disease problems. Powdery mildew disappears as the temperature rises.

GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

Sacramento trees heat stress irrigation summer weather weather gardening sprinklers fungal diseases heat mulch water basins crown rot

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Food in My Back Yard Series

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 May 11

Make the most of the lower temperatures early in the week. We’ll be back in the 80s by Thursday.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)

* Plant dahlia tubers.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.

* 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.

* Add mulch to the garden to maintain moisture. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch-to-1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.

* Remember to weed! Pull those nasties before they set seed.

* Water early in the day and keep seedlings evenly moist.

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