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Dig In: Garden Checklist for week of Sept. 9

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED SEP 8, 2018

Keep harvesting those tomatoes. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Gardening’s ‘shoulder season’ offers late summer harvest, fall planting opportunities

Mid-September is gardening’s version of a “shoulder season,” the travel industry’s term for the period right before or after peak season. Shoulder season is a time packed with opportunities. For travelers, that means bargains. For gardeners, that means harvesting crops from one season while planting for the next.

With one foot in summer and the other in fall, gardeners need to balance those two sides of September. Here’s how:

* Keep harvesting tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons and eggplant. For the most part, those summer crops are wrapping up, but some plants are still flowering and trying to set more fruit while the weather is warm. If that’s the case in your garden, give those late bloomers a boost of bone meal (after watering deeply). If the bees pollinate those flowers and October stays warm, you could have fresh-picked “summer” veggies for the holidays.

* 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.

* Pick up fallen fruit. If you live in the current quarantine area for Oriental fruit fly (a zone that covers most of Sacramento), double bag in plastic that discarded fruit and call the Sacramento County agricultural office ( 916-875-6603 ) for disposal .

* 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.

* Sow seeds of California poppies, clarkia and African daisies.

* Transplant cool-weather annuals such as pansies, violas, fairy primroses, calendulas, stocks and snapdragons.

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CHECKLIST FOR THE WEEK

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Dig In: Garden Checklist

For week of March 26:

Sacramento can expect another inch of rain from this latest storm. Leave the sprinklers off at least another week. Temps will dip down into the low 30s early in the week, so avoid planting tender seedlings (such as tomatoes). Concentrate on these tasks before or after this week’s rain:

* Fertilize roses, annual flowers and berries as spring growth begins to appear.

* Knock off aphids with a strong blast of water or some bug soap as soon as they appear.

* Pull weeds now! Don’t let them get started. Take a hoe and whack them as soon as they sprout.

* Prepare summer vegetable beds. Spade in compost and other amendments.

* Prune and fertilize spring-flowering shrubs after bloom.

* Feed camellias at the end of their bloom cycle. Pick up browned and fallen flowers to help corral blossom blight.

* Feed citrus trees, which are now in bloom and setting fruit.

To prevent sunburn and borer problems on young trees, paint the exposed portion of the trunk with diluted white latex (water-based) interior paint. Dilute the paint with an equal amount of cold water before application.

* Cut back and fertilize perennial herbs to encourage new growth.

* Seed and renovate the lawn (if you still have one). Feed cool-season grasses such as bent, blue, rye and fescue with a slow-release fertilizer. Check the irrigation system and perform maintenance. Make sure sprinkler heads are turned toward the lawn, not the sidewalk.

* In the vegetable garden, transplant lettuce and kale.

* Seed chard and beets directly into the ground.

* Plant summer bulbs, including gladiolus, tuberous begonias and callas. Also plant dahlia tubers.

* Shop for perennials. Many varieties are available in local nurseries and at plant events. They can be transplanted now while the weather remains relatively cool.

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