Sacramento Digs Gardening: Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Dec. 16

Red chard and green chard make a festive combination. Transplant it now, along with lettuce, peas, greens and cabbage. If you don't have space in the garden, chard does very well a pot. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Colder weather cues dormancy -- and pruning time

After such a warm fall, the weather in these final days before winter may seem chilly and dank, but it's actually normal for December in Sacramento. This month averages 56-degree days and 38-degree nights, right around what we've been seeing.

These colder temperatures cue deciduous trees and shrubs to start thinking about taking a long nap. If they haven't already dropped their leaves, they will -- very soon.

That dormancy cues a round of early winter chores. Here's what to do in between storms:

* Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while they're dormant.
* Prune deciduous fruit trees except apricots (they're pruned in August). Remove and dispose of any "mummy fruit" that clings to the branches; it's full of fungal disease.
* Spray peaches and nectarine trees with copper fungicide spray to prevent leaf curl. This treatment also helps fight brown rot and fire blight. It needs at least 24 hours of dry weather after spraying to be effective.
* Clean and sharpen garden tools before storing for the winter.
* Expecting company? Brighten the holiday garden with winter bloomers such as calendulas, Iceland poppies, pansies and primroses. They'll add instant color and instant cheer.
* It's not too late to transplant trees, shrubs and perennials.
* Transplant lettuce, cabbage, chard, peas and greens.
* Plant from seed radishes, beets, leaf lettuce, greens, peas and fava beans.
* Friday is the first day of winter. That's also the shortest day of the year, the traditional time to plant garlic and onions for harvest in summer.
* Plant bare-root berries, kiwifruit, grapes, artichokes, horseradish and rhubarb. But beware of soggy soil. It can rot bare-root plants.

CHECKLIST FOR THE WEEK

Your weekly checklist of activities in the garden.

Keywords:

Sacramento peach leaf curl tools dormant spray garden chores winter greens weather gardening holiday plants pruning annuals dormancy perennials

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Food in My Back Yard Series

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

Local News

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Find our spring recipes here!

Thanks to Our Sponsor!

Sites We Like

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

Find our summer recipes here!

Taste Fall! E-cookbook

Find our fall recipes here!

Taste Winter! E-cookbook

Find our winter recipes here!