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Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Nov. 25

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED NOV 24, 2018

Kale transplants can go into the garden now. (Photo: Debbie Arrington)

Sunshine after storms brings planting opportunity

Got kale? It's not too late to add some leafy greens to your garden.

Thanks to two-plus days of rain, soil is moist enough to dig but not too soggy to work. With mild weather forecast through Monday, it's a good time to get outside and plant some winter vegetables -- or a lot more.

According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento received 1.18 inches from our first real storms of the season. That's still low -- normal to date is 2.44 inches -- but we're catching up fast. More rain is expected Tuesday.

What to do during this window of opportunity?

* Keep planting bulbs to spread out your spring bloom. Some possible suggestions: daffodils, crocuses, hyacinths, tulips, anemones and scillas.

* This is also a good time to seed wildflowers and plant such spring bloomers as sweet pea, sweet alyssum and bachelor buttons.

* Now is the best time to plant most trees and shrubs. This gives them plenty of time for root development before spring growth. They also benefit from fall and winter rains.

* Set out cool-weather annuals such as pansies and snapdragons.

* Lettuce, cabbage and broccoli also can be planted now as well as kale, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage and other leafy green veggies.

* Plant garlic and onions.

Once the leaves are gone from this little peach tree,
the "dummy fruit" needs to be removed and the tree
sprayed with coper fungicide. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

* Rake and compost leaves, but dispose of any diseased plant material. For example, if peach and nectarine trees showed signs of leaf curl this year, clean up under trees and dispose of those leaves instead of composting.

* Speaking of leaf curl, apply a copper fungicide spray to peach and nectarine trees after they lose their leaves. The spray needs to be applied before (at least) a 24-hour dry period to be most effective. Leaf curl, which shows up in the spring, is caused by a fungus that winters as spores on the limbs and around the tree in fallen leaves. It also is found in "dummy fruit," little brown fruit that never developed and clings to the limbs. Remove any "dummies" before spraying.

* Turn off the sprinklers this week. Mother Nature has irrigation covered.

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seeds Sacramento peach leaf curl trees garden chores fungicide fruit trees gardening planting cool-weather vegetables shrubs rainfall bulbs compost

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Food in My Back Yard Series

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

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Garden Checklist for week of April 13

Enjoy this spring weather – and get to work! Your garden needs you!

* Start setting out tomato, pepper and eggplant transplants.

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

* Plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.

* 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.

* 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.

* Weed, weed, weed! Don’t let unwanted plants go to seed.

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