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

Too many wet leaves delays The Claw

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED DEC 14, 2018

Sacramento cleanup service is behind schedule

This pile of leaves likely will be occupying this spot at least until
Christmas, or maybe later. (Photo: Debbie Arrington)

This is Sacramento's prime leaf season. It's pruning time, too. Which means piles and piles and piles of leaves and trimmed branches line our residential streets, waiting for The Claw to roll around.

But this December has proved overwhelming for this fixture service of Sacramento winters. The Claw is way behind schedule. Instead of the usual 14-day turnaround, residential green-waste street pick-up is taking three weeks or more. Residents are complaining as the leaves and twigs keep piling up.

The city of Sacramento sent out an explanation via Nextdoor.com about slow service in the Land Park neighborhood, which hadn't had pick-up since Nov. 20-22. But it's a citywide issue.

According to the city's online collection calendar, The Claw last visited my block in The Pocket on Dec. 3. It read, "Leaf collection estimate for your street (is) Dec. 24-26. Dates will likely change!"

Yes, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or Kwanzaa, we can expect our piles to disappear. Right now, I'm hesitant to put anything more out there. Holiday guests will have no place to park.

The city's green-waste grabber known as The Claw is behind schedule

thanks to the massive leaf drop in early December.

(Photo courtesy City of Sacramento)

The problem is too many wet leaves, according to The Sacramento Bee. (Read the full story here: https://bit.ly/2PCEyPt ) Rainy weather coincided with a massive leave drop in early December. This has ke
pt city crews working six days a week, trying to catch up. The added weight of wet leaves means the trucks can be filled only partway, further complicating the problem.

During the first 11 days of December 2017, The Claw fleet collected about 800 tons of green waste. In those same days in 2018, they collected more than 1,700 tons. That's a lot of leaves.

The city suggests using the green-waste cans first before adding more leaves to the street. The cans get picked up weekly. Think about composting fallen leaves or using them as mulch. Anything helps this overload.

Meanwhile, delay pruning to dry weather. The Claw service continues through Jan. 27.
Residents can get email reminders and text alerts on waste pick-ups via the city's website. For more on leaf season and a link to the collection calendar: https://bit.ly/2rDmnj4

Comments

0 comments have been posted.

GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

gardening Sacramento pruning The Claw green waste trees fall weather leaves rain weather

Newsletter Subscription

Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.

Taste Spring! E-cookbook

Find our spring recipes here!

Local News

Thanks to our sponsor!

Sites We Like

Garden Checklist for week of April 21

This week there’s plenty to keep gardeners busy. With no rain in the immediate forecast, remember to irrigate any new transplants.

* Weed, weed, weed! Get them before they flower and go to seed.

* April is the last chance to plant citrus trees such as dwarf orange, lemon and kumquat. These trees also look good in landscaping and provide fresh fruit in winter.

* Smell orange blossoms? Feed citrus trees with a low dose of balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) during bloom to help set fruit. Keep an eye out for ants.

* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.

* Thoroughly clean debris from the bottom of outdoor ponds or fountains.

* Spring brings a flush of rapid growth, and that means your garden is really hungry. Feed shrubs and trees with a slow-release fertilizer. Or mulch with a 1-inch layer of compost.

* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.

* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.

* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.

* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.

* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, radishes and squash.

* Plant onion sets.

* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias.

* Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.

* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom.

* Mid to late April is about the last chance to plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.

* Transplant lettuce seedlings. Choose varieties that mature quickly such as loose leaf.

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!