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Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Dec. 30

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED DEC 29, 2018

A peach mummy hangs on a Babcock peach tree. (Photo: Debbie Arrington)

Watch out for 'mummies'; good time to prune and spray peaches

On this last December weekend, be on the lookout for mummies.

Peach mummies, to be specific. Clinging determinedly to branches, these strange shriveled black petrified fruit are full of fungal spores. Until the leaves fall, a peach mummy (or mummy peach) can be easily overlooked. But if a peach or nectarine tree bore brown-spotted fruit that quickly went bad, it most likely had brown rot. Those mummies are a sure sign.

Another symptom are blossoms that wilt or brown before bees have a chance to pollinate. That usually happens during wet springs followed by a summer with few peaches. Brown rot spores are again to blame.

Next to leaf curl, brown rot is among the most common peach tree problems in Sacramento. Fortunately, it's easily preventable. Get rid of the mummies.

Copper fungicide, the same treatment used to prevent peach leaf curl, also fights brown rot. A single application now can control both for 2019. These last days of 2018 look like ideal conditions for peach and nectarine tree maintenance. After the wind dies down, dry and clear weather is forecast until next Sunday.

Copper fungicide sprays need 24 hours of dry, calm weather before applying. With no rain or fog, this is a good window of opportunity. Among the copper fungicides available, Bonide Liquid Copper Fungicide is considered suitable for organic gardening. It's actually a copper soap that clings to branches and provides some extra protection.

If needed, prune before spraying. Remove any remaining leaves and those mummies. Dispose (don't compost) leaves and any infected twigs. After pruning, sterilize your pruners and loppers with disinfectant spray or wipes (Lysol works fine) or dip the blades in a gallon of water with 1/4 cup bleach.

Other gardening tasks for this final weekend of 2018:
* Clean and sharpen garden tools. You'll use those pruners a lot this season.
* Mulch, water and cover tender plants to protect them during threat of frost. Succulent plants are at particular risk if temperatures drop below freezing. Make sure to remove coverings during the day.
* Just because it rained doesn't mean every plant got watered. Give a drink to plants that the rain didn't reach, such as under eaves or under evergreen trees.
* Plant bare-root perennials, roses and fruit trees. Also available bare-root are berries, kiwifruit, grapes, artichokes, horseradish and rhubarb.
* It's not too late to plant a winter garden. Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli can be planted now; use transplants for best success. Plant garlic and onions.
* Add a few more cool-weather annuals such as pansies, snapdragons, calendulas and stock.

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Keywords:

Sacramento peach leaf curl winter weather brown rot garden chores copper fungicide fruit trees bare-root plants winter annuals gardening pruning garden tools

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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

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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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