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Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Sept. 16

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED SEP 15, 2018

Whenever autumn arrives in your garden, remember to compost the fallen leaves. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Compost fall leaves for garden gold

It’s almost officially fall. That’s when nature really gets into recycling. Why do you think so many trees lose their leaves?

By the look of some birches and Japanese maples, autumn and its annual leaf drop may come early. Deciduous trees are already showing their fall colors.

Follow nature’s lead by making the most of those fallen leaves. Turn them into mulch by shredding with a lawn mower. Or just use them as is for a forest-floor look.

Or add them to your compost pile. This “brown” material is essential for garden gold.

Also to do this week:

* Compost annuals and vegetable crops that have finished producing.

* Cultivate and add compost to the soil to replenish its nutrients for fall and winter vegetables and flowers.

* Fertilize deciduous fruit trees. Water deeply before feeding.

* Pick up any fallen fruit. If you live in the Sacramento quarantine area for Oriental fruit fly, either compost discarded fruit on site or double bag it in plastic and dispose of it in the garbage bin, not green waste. (This is a change in previous recommendations.)

* Plant onions, lettuce, peas, radishes, turnips, beets, carrots, bok choy, spinach and potatoes directly into the vegetable beds.

* Transplant cabbage, broccoli, kale, Brussels sprouts and cauliflower as well as lettuce seedlings.

* Divide and replant bulbs, rhizomes and perennials.

* Dig up and divide daylilies as they complete their bloom cycle.

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CHECKLIST FOR THE WEEK

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Dig In: Garden Checklist

For week of June 4:

Because of the comfortable weather, it’s not too late to set out tomato and pepper seedlings as well as squash and melon plants. They’ll appreciate this not-too-hot weather. Just remember to water.

* From seed, plant corn, pumpkins, radishes, melons, 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.

* Let the grass grow longer. Set the mower blades high to reduce stress on your lawn during summer heat. To cut down on evaporation, water your lawn deeply during the wee hours of the morning, between 2 and 8 a.m.

* 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.

* Mulch, mulch, mulch! This “blanket” keeps moisture in the soil longer and helps your plants cope during hot weather.

* Thin grapes on the vine for bigger, better clusters later this summer.

* Cut back fruit-bearing canes on berries.

* Feed camellias, azaleas and other acid-loving plants.

* 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.

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