Sacramento Digs Gardening: Take advantage of warm November

Add instant color with chrysanthemums, November's official flower. (Photos: Debbie Arrington)

Unusual weather allows for more transplanting success

What's normal for November? It sure isn't 85-degree days.

Our prolonged Indian summer continues to bring unusually warm (and dry) days, flirting with record highs for this month. (Sacramento's all-time November high is 87 degrees.)

What's normal? According to the National Weather Service, about 71 degrees for this week, then it quickly gets colder. Sacramento's average high for November is 64 degrees.

Instead, the 10-day forecast calls for a string of more afternoons in the 80s and high 70s with nights in the low 50s.

By Monday, overnight lows will be dipping down regularly into the 40s, which is normal. November's average low is 43 degrees.

Transplant kale and other cool-weather vegetables.

What does this mean for gardeners? The faster you get transplants in the ground, the better. Those chilly nights will start dropping soil temperature. Warm soil helps roots develop and get plants established -- the key to garden success.

Right now, many plants are enjoying this continued warmth. Summer bloomers such as begonias, roses and ginger are continuing to push out flowers.

Remember to water those transplants. Our weather continues to be drier than normal, too. October's usual 1 inch of rainfall never materialized. November averages about 2 inches.

This warm weather is also bringing out mosquitoes. Be on the alert and empty any standing water that may have accumulated in saucers under pots. Wear long sleeves and long pants when working in the garden in late afternoon and evening, when the mosquitoes are most active.

GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

fall vegetables Sacramento roses fall gardening chrysanthemums weather mosquitoes November fall planting gardening begonias rainfall transplants

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Food in My Back Yard Series

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

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Garden Checklist for week of May 18

Get outside early in the morning while temperatures are still cool – and get to work!

* 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. 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.

* Are birds picking your fruit off trees before it’s ripe? Try hanging strips of aluminum foil on tree branches. The shiny, dangling strips help deter birds from making themselves at home.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.

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