Sacramento Digs Gardening logo
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 Aug. 25


In hot weather, harvest crops daily. Tomatoes and other vegetables can
ripen rapidly. The plants also may need some shade to prevent sunburn.
(Photo: Kathy Morrison)
Are your plants ready for more triple-digit weather?



Hot! That's the forecast from the National Weather Service as Sacramento faces at least five consecutive days of triple-digit temperatures.

The upper range for the Central Valley is predicted between 98 and 107 degrees for Tuesday, the peak of this heat wave. Keeping us warm, overnight lows are hovering around 70.

Stay hydrated. That goes for you and your garden. Irrigate early in the morning or evening. Try to limit your garden activities to the cooler parts of the day.

Put off major chores and planting until the weather cools back down into the low and mid 90s, the current forecast for next weekend. (Remember: It's not lazy, it's smart.)

What to do while you can:
* Test soil moisture. Use a moisture meter or just a long-handled screwdriver. If it can't penetrate 6 inches, that hard soil is too dry. Deep water where needed.

* Harvest daily. Crops can ripen rapidly in hot weather and quickly go over the top.

* Got watermelons? As they near ripeness, cut back on water for the last two weeks or they may split. Look at the little curly tendril growing opposite the melon on the vine. If it's green and springy, the melon is still growing, so keep watering. If it's yellow, cut back on irrigation. If the tendril is brown, the melon is at full size and ripe.

* Shade ripening tomatoes, eggplant and peppers; they can easily sunburn in this weather.

* Skip the fertilizer this week; it may cause more plant stress than good.

* Check on new transplants; are they getting enough water? Do they need temporary shade?

* Let the lawn grow (if it's growing at all). Longer grass conserves moisture.

* Pick up fallen fruit; it attracts all sorts of pests.

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Local News

Ad for California Local

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Strawberries

Find our spring recipes here!

Thanks to Our Sponsor!

Cleveland sage ad for Be Water Smart

Garden Checklist for week of June 8

Get out early to enjoy those nice mornings. There’s plenty to keep gardeners busy:

* Warm weather brings rapid growth in the vegetable garden, with tomatoes and squash enjoying the heat. Deep-water, then feed with a balanced fertilizer. Bone meal or rock phosphate can spur the bloom cycle and help set fruit.

* Generally, tomatoes need deep watering two to three times a week, but don’t let them dry out completely. Inconsistent soil moisture can encourage blossom-end rot.

* It’s not too late to transplant tomatoes, peppers or eggplant.

* 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.

* 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.

* 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.

Taste Summer! E-cookbook

square-tomatoes-plate.jpg

Find our summer recipes here!

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Muffins and pumpkin

Find our fall recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Lemon coconut pancakes

Find our winter recipes here!