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Yes, it'll continue to be warm and sunny this week, but the "dangerous" heat wave is waning. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)
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It’s Sacramento, it’s August, it’s hot; what did you expect?
But this summer’s heat has been exceptional. The National Weather Service calls the current heat wave “dangerous.”
Relief may be on its way; we’re headed for more normal temperatures. Instead of scorching, the afternoons will be merely baking.
“Good news: After today, it will be slightly less hot,” tweeted the NWS Sacramento office on Saturday morning. “Not so great news: It will still be pretty warm.”
A heat advisory for the Sacramento Valley called for afternoon highs of 100 to 110 degrees on Saturday; the foothill forecast was 100 to 106.
Expect a big change Sunday. After an expected high of 106 Saturday in downtown Sacramento, the weather service forecasts a dip down to 93 degrees Sunday. Normal for late August: 94.
Temperatures will spike back up to around 100 on Tuesday and Wednesday, then settle down into the mid 90s again, predicts the weather service. Helping those “cooler” days? Lower overnight temperatures, brushing 60 degrees.
That means mornings will be perfect for gardening this week. Take care of chores before 10 a.m.
* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.
* Harvest tomatoes, beans, squash, pepper and eggplants to prompt plants to keep producing. Give your plants a deep watering twice a week, more if planted in containers. Also, give them a boost with phosphate-rich fertilizer to help fruiting.
* Watch out for caterpillars and hornworms in the vegetable garden. They can strip a plant bare in one day. Pick them off plants by hand in early morning or late afternoon.
* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.
* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.
* In the garden, direct-seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.
* Plant potatoes.
* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s now forming.
* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Feed them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.
* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.
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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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