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Dig In: Garden checklist for week of July 17

Heat is here; help your garden cope with so much sun

Bee on melon flower
Bees are important pollinators of melons, above, and squash, but they are likely to be less active in hot weather, so give your plants a hand with pollination. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Hot: That’s the official Sacramento forecast for this week. What would you expect?

As the National Weather Service’s Sacramento office tweeted Saturday: “How confident are we that this weekend will be hot? It’s a sure bet it will feel like July.”

Triple-digit highs continue at least Sunday and maybe Monday before a slight cooldown to the mid 90s – normal for mid-July in Sacramento. According to the weather service, overnight lows will dip down to around 60 each night; that will help temper those sizzling afternoons.

Few if any clouds are in the forecast, so expect lots of blasting sun. Consider erecting some temporary shade for peppers, eggplant, tomatoes and other plants prone to sunburn. They’ll appreciate it.

Watch out for your own health, too. Limit outdoor activity to early morning or early evening. Wear sun protection. Don't overdo it; heat stress is dangerous.

* Water early in the morning, preferably before 8 a.m. That will cut down on evaporation.

* One good thing about hot days: Most lawns stop growing when temperatures top 95 degrees. Keep mower blades set on high. Longer grass needs less irrigation; it shades its own roots.

* Keep your vegetable garden watered, mulched and weeded.

* Don’t let tomatoes wilt or dry out completely. Give tomatoes a deep watering two to three times a week. (Note: Tomatoes and other broad-leafed vegetables sometimes wilt in the afternoon as a survival technique. They should pop back into form after sundown. Wilting in the morning in when you should worry about them -- and water them.)

* When temperatures cool down later this week, fertilize vegetables and blooming annuals, perennials and shrubs to give them a boost. Feeding flowering plants every other week will extend their bloom. Always water before applying fertilizer.

* Harvest vegetables promptly to encourage plants to produce more. Squash especially tends to grow rapidly in hot weather. Keep an eye on zucchini.

* If your melons and squash aren't setting fruit, give the bees a hand. With a small, soft paintbrush, gather some pollen from male flowers, then brush it inside the female flowers, which have a tiny swelling at the base of their petals. (That’s the embryo melon or squash.) Within days, that little swelling should start growing.

* Remove spent flowers from roses, daylilies and other bloomers as they finish flowering.

* Pinch blooms from basil so the plant will grow more leaves.

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Garden Checklist for week of June 22

Mornings this first week of summer will remain comfortably cool – just right for gardening!

* Water early in the morning to cut down on evaporation. Check soil moisture and deep water trees and shrubs. Keep new transplants and veggies evenly moist. Deep water tomatoes to encourage deep roots.

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

* 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.

* Avoid pot “hot feet.” Place a 1-inch-thick board under container plants sitting on pavement. This little cushion helps insulate them from radiated heat.

* 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. Mulch to conserve moisture and reduce heat stress.

* Cut back Shasta daisies after flowering to encourage a second bloom in the fall.

* 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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