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 Oct. 13

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED OCT 12, 2019

Plant transplants of kale and other cool-weather vegetables now. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

After the smoke clears, plant something; lots of possibilities

Plants don’t mind the smoke. This weekend, fires burning in the Sierra foothills cast a smoky haze over the Sacramento area, making eyes water and throats scratch.

So, although temperatures remained mild, it’s not advised to undertake strenuous activity outdoors until the smoke clears. That should happen when breezes pick up, which may be as soon as Sunday night.

When the smoke clears, take advantage of some very comfortable fall weather. According to the National Weather Service , Sacramento high temperatures will stay in the 70s all week with overnight lows flirting with 50.

That’s great planting weather. Need suggestions?

* October is the best month to plant perennials in the greater Sacramento area. Add a little well-aged compost and bone meal to the planting hole, but hold off on other fertilizers until spring. Keep the transplants well-watered (but not wet) for the first month as they become settled.

* Trees and shrubs also benefit from fall planting. Keep them well watered until winter rains take over irrigation.

* California native plants do best when transplanted now; they’ll develop strong, deep roots.

* Now is the time to plant seeds for many flowers such as cornflower, nasturtium, nigella, poppy, portulaca, sweet pea and stock.

* Plant seeds for radishes, bok choy, mustard, spinach and peas.

* Transplant cool-weather vegetables including lettuce, kale, cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower.

* Plant garlic and onions.

* Set out cool-weather bedding plants, including calendula, pansy, snapdragon, primrose and viola.

* Reseed and feed the lawn. Work on bare spots.

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

CHECKLIST FOR THE WEEK

Your weekly checklist of activities in the garden.

Keywords:

cool-weather annuals fall flowers seeds fall planting gardening Sacramento cool-weather vegetables garden chores

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

Find our summer recipes here!

Thanks to Our Sponsor!

Local News

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Find our spring recipes here!

Sites We Like

Garden Checklist for week of Sept. 15

Make the most of the cool break this week – and get things done. Your garden needs you!

* Now is the time to plant for fall. The warm soil will get cool-season veggies off to a fast start.

* Keep harvesting tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons and eggplant.

* Compost annuals and vegetable crops that have finished producing.

* Cultivate and add compost to the soil to replenish its nutrients for fall and winter vegetables and flowers.

* Fertilize deciduous fruit trees.

* Plant onions, lettuce, peas, radishes, turnips, beets, carrots, bok choy, spinach and potatoes directly into the vegetable beds.

* Transplant cabbage, broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower as well as lettuce seedlings.

* Sow seeds of California poppies, clarkia and African daisies.

* Transplant cool-weather annuals such as pansies, violas, fairy primroses, calendulas, stocks and snapdragons.

* Divide and replant bulbs, rhizomes and perennials.

* Dig up and divide daylilies as they complete their bloom cycle.

* Divide and transplant peonies that have become overcrowded. Replant with "eyes" about an inch below the soil surface.

* Late September is ideal for sowing a new lawn or re-seeding bare spots.

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Find our fall recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Find our winter recipes here!