Settle in for some normal August warmth after temperature drop
Tomatoes should get back to their regular fruit set and growth schedules with the return to more typical summer weather. Harvest when ripe to keep the plant producing. Kathy Morrison
After so many triple-digit days in July and early August, low 90s never felt so good.
Sacramento can expect some very pleasant summer weather this week – good news for our tomatoes!
According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento will see high temperatures in the low 90s, maybe even 80s, for the next six days starting Sunday. Overnight lows will be nice, too, cooling off to about 60 degrees. That’s totally normal for mid August; this month in Sacramento averages highs of 91 and lows of 58.
With these lower temperatures, tomato flowers will start to set fruit again. (The high heat dried pollen almost instantly, preventing fruit set.) Deep-water and fertilize plants with bone meal or balanced tomato food.
Humidity will be low, which means fire danger remains high. Don’t make sparks!
Otherwise, this looks like a great week to catch up on garden TLC.
* 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.
* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s now forming.
* 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.
* Cut off spent blooms from roses, annuals and perennials, then give them a boost of fertilizer. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.
* 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.
* 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. (Tip: Soak those beet seeds overnight in warm water for better germination.)
* Plant potatoes.
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Garden Checklist for week of Sept. 8
Temperatures are headed down to normal. The rest of the month kicks off fall planting season:
* Harvest tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons and eggplant.
* 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.
* Divide and transplant peonies that have become overcrowded. Replant with “eyes” about an inch below the soil surface.
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