Delta breeze brings some relief after epic heat wave
Gardeners probably all feel like this poor navel orange, after more than a week of 100-degree-plus temperatures: Scorched. Kathy Morrison
Relief! The Delta Breeze never felt so good!
Onshore flow of cooler air has finally brought an end to the worse early September heat wave in Sacramento history.
How hot was it? According to the National Weather Service, Downtown Sacramento averaged 108.8 degrees over September’s first nine days, topping the old record for that period (101.1, set in 1923) by 7.7 degrees. Normal for the first two weeks of September: 92.6.
Our overnight lows set a record high, too, averaging 71.1 degrees over the first nine nights in September. This month often is pretty warm at night; the old high-low record was 69.7, set in 1998. Average for this time period: 60. 8.
“It was quite the start to September for #NorCal with a historic heat wave,” tweeted the Sacramento NWS office. “This helped bring the hottest start to the month of September on record for interior Northern California with the average high so far for Sacramento at 108.8 and 109.8 for Redding.”
Sacramento International Airport set daily records with new highs on six consecutive days, Sept. 4-9.
What a difference a little ocean breeze makes! The weather service predicts high temperatures 20 degrees or more cooler than last week. The forecast high for Wednesday: 81 degrees.
Sacramento is expected to stay comfortably in the 80s through next weekend. Instead of heat, the challenge now will be smoke from nearby wildfires. But forecasters anticipate the onshore flow will push most of the haze east, out of Sacramento.
What to do now that you can venture outdoors?
* Start by rinsing off your plants. Sticky residue from smoke can stick to leaves and clog pores, inhibiting their ability to “breathe.” This also will help get rid of spider mites, which have been loving this dry heat.
* Now is the time to plant for fall. Warm soil will get these veggies off to a fast start.
* Keep harvesting tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons and eggplant – if you have any. Wash veggies well to remove smoke residue.
* 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.
* 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.
* Divide and replant bulbs, rhizomes and perennials.
* Dig up and divide daylilies as they complete their bloom cycle.
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Garden Checklist for week of April 21
This week there’s plenty to keep gardeners busy. With no rain in the immediate forecast, remember to irrigate any new transplants.
* Weed, weed, weed! Get them before they flower and go to seed.
* April is the last chance to plant citrus trees such as dwarf orange, lemon and kumquat. These trees also look good in landscaping and provide fresh fruit in winter.
* Smell orange blossoms? Feed citrus trees with a low dose of balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) during bloom to help set fruit. Keep an eye out for ants.
* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.
* Thoroughly clean debris from the bottom of outdoor ponds or fountains.
* Spring brings a flush of rapid growth, and that means your garden is really hungry. Feed shrubs and trees with a slow-release fertilizer. Or mulch with a 1-inch layer of compost.
* Azaleas and camellias looking a little yellow? If leaves are turning yellow between the veins, give them a boost with chelated iron.
* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.
* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.
* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.
* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, radishes and squash.
* Plant onion sets.
* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias.
* Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.
* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom.
* Mid to late April is about the last chance to plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.
* Transplant lettuce seedlings. Choose varieties that mature quickly such as loose leaf.
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