Dig In: Garden checklist for week of July 28

Oh, what a difference clouds make!

After suffering through what likely was the hottest July on record, Sacramento got some much-needed relief – thanks to breezy conditions and a thick layer of morning clouds.

According to the National Weather Service, this weekend’s highs will top out in the low 80s – 20 degrees lower than last weekend. The few remaining days of July will stay relatively mild, too, with highs in the low to mid 90.

But midweek, the breeze stops, the clouds disappear – and temperatures start climbing again. We’ll be back in the high 90s by week’s end and flirting with triple digits next Saturday, Aug. 3 – Harvest Day at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center.

Make the most of this week’s cooldown – and get to work! Your garden needs you!

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s now forming.

* 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. (Always water before feeding.)

* 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.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking out weeds. But don’t let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Feed them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pinch off dead flowers from perennials and annuals to lengthen their summer bloom.

* 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.

* To prolong bloom into fall, feed begonias, fuchsias, annuals and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, corn, leaf lettuce and turnips. Plant potatoes.

* 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.