Sacramento Digs Gardening: A gardener's Thanksgiving

This Japanese maple tree's best gift is its late-fall beauty on a grey day. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

So much to be thankful for

The world is cloudy and soggy this Thanksgiving morning in the Sacramento Valley. We worried and worried about whether we'd get any precipitation this fall, and now that it's here -- with more expected all next week -- we gardeners can be thankful. The seedlings and new plants we put in earlier this season got a healthy drink, and the soil will soften and relax. The sprinkler system is off-duty for the time being.

It's a good day to think about such things, the gifts we receive as gardeners:

-- Pollinators who do their thing in the garden without any prompting, and do even more with a little encouragement (and plants they love). From almonds to zucchini, the area's crops and our home gardens depend on the bees, birds, butterflies and other insects.

-- The trees that shade our homes and give us mulch in the fall, as well as provide food -- even if just for wildlife (oh, those squirrels!) -- and homes for birds.

-- The magical soil below us, full of nutrients and microbes and earthworms and so many things we're not aware of as we walk over it.

-- Our gorgeous Mediterranean climate, which even as it's changing lets us work outside nearly year-round and grow so many things so well that we're the envy of the rest of the country's gardeners.

--The wonder of tiny seeds that turn into 2-pound tomatoes with just the right amount of care.

-- Finally, the generosity of fellow gardeners, who give freely of seeds, plants, produce, tools and advice. If someone says, "Oh, you're a gardener, too!" you have instant rapport. It's a community to cherish.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.

GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

holiday traditions Mediterranean climate seeds gardening Sacramento trees Thanksgiving mulch soil gardening advice

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Food in My Back Yard Series

June 17: Help pollinators help your garden

June 10: Battling early-season tomato pests

June 3: Make your own compost

May 27: Where are the bees when you need them?

May 20: How to help tomatoes thrive on hot days

May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can

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 June 22

Mornings this first week of summer will remain comfortably cool – just right for gardening!

* Water early in the morning to cut down on evaporation. Check soil moisture and deep water trees and shrubs. Keep new transplants and veggies evenly moist. Deep water tomatoes to encourage deep roots.

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

* Plant basil to go with your tomatoes.

* Transplant summer annuals such as petunias, marigolds and zinnias. It’s also a good time to transplant perennial flowers including astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia, salvia and verbena.

* Tie up vines and stake tall plants such as gladiolus and lilies. That gives their heavy flowers some support.

* Dig and divide crowded bulbs after the tops have died down.

* Feed summer flowers with a slow-release fertilizer.

* Mulch, mulch, mulch! This “blanket” keeps moisture in the soil longer and helps your plants cope during hot weather.

* Avoid pot “hot feet.” Place a 1-inch-thick board under container plants sitting on pavement. This little cushion helps insulate them from radiated heat.

* Thin grapes on the vine for bigger, better clusters later this summer.

* Cut back fruit-bearing canes on berries.

* Feed camellias, azaleas and other acid-loving plants. Mulch to conserve moisture and reduce heat stress.

* Cut back Shasta daisies after flowering to encourage a second bloom in the fall.

* Trim off dead flowers from rose bushes to keep them blooming through the summer. Roses also benefit from deep watering and feeding now. A top dressing of aged compost will keep them happy. It feeds as well as keeps roots moist.

* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushier plants with many more flowers in September.

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