Rare August rain could arrive Friday; be ready for a 25-degree swing in high temperatures
The cooler weather this week should allow tomatoes to set new fruit, before a return of triple-digit temperatures. Kathy Morrison
Here’s something you don’t often hear in August in Sacramento: “Keep your umbrella handy.”
According to the National Weather Service, an unusual and strong weather system will blow into Northern California on Thursday night along with the possibility of thunderstorms. This cold front will drop temperatures as well as some precipitation.
As this “uncommon” weather system moves through, Sacramento has a 48% chance of rain on Friday afternoon and evening, says the weather service. The highest probability of rain is north of Interstate 80 including the possibility of cloud bursts and small hail.
Wet or not, Friday (Aug. 23) will seem downright chilly. Sacramento’s high temperature is forecast to be only 75 degrees – almost 20 degrees below normal for that date. Cloudy conditions will keep temperatures cool on Saturday (with an expected high of 81) before the heat returns.
And that warm-up will be fast; the expected high in Sacramento next Tuesday is 100 degrees.
Enjoy this cool streak while it lasts – and keep an eye on your tomatoes. If they had flowers bloom during recent cooler days, they’re likely setting fruit now. Fertilize them with some tomato food high in phosphate and potassium (the second and third macro-nutrient numbers on the fertilizer bag). That will help those baby tomatoes grow.
Also, deep water tomatoes before and after feeding. To help those vines hold onto their fruit, make sure their soil stays evenly moist during next week’s rapid warm-up.
Yo-yo temperatures can confuse flowering plants, especially roses. Blind shoots – stems with no terminal bud – are common on rose bushes after sudden temperature drops or increases. Blind shoots will never bloom; they just keep growing more leaflets. Snip them off (pruning about a half inch above a five-leaf leaflet) to prompt the bush to push out new shoots with buds.
While you’re at it, remove spent blooms on bushes, too. That removes a source of fungal disease as well as cues the bush to push out more flowers. Expect the new roses to open in six to eight weeks – just in time for fall bouquets.
For more on Sacramento weather: https://www.weather.gov/sto/.
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Garden Checklist for week of Jan. 19
Dress warmly in layers – and get to work:
* 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 oil 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.
* 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. Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease. (The exceptions are apricot and cherry trees, which are susceptible to a fungus that causes dieback if pruned now. Save those until summer.)
* 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.
* 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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