Remember to water; Sacramento could be in midst of record heat wave
Keep an eye on zucchini and other summer squashes in this heat -- they can grow quickly. This variety is "Cube of Butter" summer squash. Kathy Morrison
Scorching: that’s the holiday weekend forecast for most of California – the Sacramento Valley included.
Forecast highs for Saturday range up to 120 degrees in Redding; that makes Sacramento’s 113 sound almost reasonable.
This weekend, Sacramento could tie or even surpass a nearly century-old record. The hottest July day ever recorded in Sacramento was 114 on July 17, 1925. We’re also on track to tie or beat Sacramento’s record for longest heat wave – 11 consecutive triple-digit days. (That was set in July 2009.) If it tops 100 on Friday, July 12, as expected, that makes 12 straight. The “coolest” day this coming week is Monday’s 101.
According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento is locked into hot weather pattern prolonged by warm nights and little breeze. Not only are days more than 10 degrees above normal, but nights are, too.
Winds are supposed to pick up a little midweek. But instead of cooling us off, gusty conditions heighten fire danger – which already is extreme.
Don’t use power equipment outdoors where there’s any danger of sparks, warns the weather service. Don’t park vehicles on dry grass; one stray spark can start a wildfire.
Meanwhile, take care of garden chores early in the morning, concentrating on watering. We’re still in survival mode until this heat wave breaks.
* Keep your vegetable garden watered, mulched and weeded. Water before 8 a.m. to conserve moisture.
* Prevent sunburn; provide temporary shade for tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, melons, squash and other crops with “sensitive” skin.
* Hold off on feeding plants until temperatures cool back down to “normal” range. That means daytime highs in the low to mid 90s.
* Don’t let tomatoes wilt or dry out completely. Give tomatoes a deep watering two to three times a week. Harvest vegetables promptly to encourage plants to produce more.
* Squash especially tends to grow rapidly in hot weather. Keep an eye on zucchini.
* Some weeds thrive in hot weather. Whack them before they go to seed.
* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushy plants and more flowers in September.
* Harvest tomatoes, squash, peppers and eggplant. Prompt picking will help keep plants producing.
* Remove spent flowers from roses, daylilies and other bloomers as they finish flowering.
* Pinch off blooms from basil so the plant will grow more leaves.
* Cut back lavender after flowering to promote a second bloom.
* One good thing about hot days: Most lawns stop growing when temperatures top 95 degrees. Keep mower blades set on high.
* Once the weather cools down a little, it’s not too late to add a splash of color. Plant petunias, snapdragons, zinnias and marigolds.
* After the heat wave, plant corn, pumpkins, radishes, winter squash and sunflowers. Make sure the seeds stay hydrated.
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Garden Checklist for week of Jan. 12
Once the winds die down, it’s good winter gardening weather with plenty to do:
* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.
* Now is the time to prune fruit trees. (The exceptions are apricot and cherry trees, which are susceptible to a fungus that causes dieback. Save them until summer.) Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease.
* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.
* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.
* After the wind stops, apply horticultural oil to fruit trees to control scale, mites and aphids. Oils need 24 hours of dry weather after application to be effective.
* This is also the time to spray a copper-based fungicide to peach and nectarine trees to fight leaf curl. (The safest effective fungicides available for backyard trees are copper soap -- aka copper octanoate -- or copper ammonium, a fixed copper fungicide. Apply either of these copper products with 1% horticultural oil to increase effectiveness.)
* When forced bulbs sprout, move them to a cool, bright window. Give them a quarter turn each day so the stems will grow straight.
* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.
* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.
* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.
* Plant bare-root roses, trees and shrubs.
* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.
* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.
* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.
* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranunculus and gladioli for bloom from late spring into summer.
* Plant blooming azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons. If you’re shopping for these beautiful landscape plants, you can now find them in full flower at local nurseries.
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