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Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Aug. 25

After unusual storm system, summer warmth returns

Lettuce can be direct seeded now, or if you're waiting for space to free up in the garden, it can be started in six-packs to transplant later.

Lettuce can be direct seeded now, or if you're waiting for space to free up in the garden, it can be started in six-packs to transplant later. Kathy Morrison

It rained! Folks throughout the greater Sacramento area woke up Saturday with that same exclamation.

Although unusual, August rain is not unheard of; downtown Sacramento historically averages 0.05 inch of August precipitation.

That’s likely more than we received from this fast-moving storm system. According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento’s rain total will be about 0.01 inch.

Areas north of Sacramento – such as Chico and Butte County – saw flash flood warnings Saturday as thunderstorms moved through the region. Recently burned areas were at particular risk.

But most of us saw no threat from this drizzle; just a little unexpected damp.

Keep the sprinklers on and get to work; heat is coming back soon.

By Tuesday, our afternoon highs will be in the high 90s and staying there through the end of August – only a week away.

There’s plenty to do while the weather is still on the cool side:

* 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.

* Prepare for a fall full of flowers by paying a little extra attention to your garden. 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.

* If you haven’t done it yet, feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that's now forming.

* 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 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.

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

* Start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, kale, leeks, mustard greens, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

* 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.

* 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 Feb. 9

Be careful walking or working in wet soil; it compacts easily.

* Keep the irrigation turned off; the ground is plenty wet with more rain on the way.

* February serves as a wake-up call to gardeners. This month, you can transplant or direct-seed several flowers, including snapdragon, candytuft, lilies, astilbe, larkspur, Shasta and painted daisies, stocks, bleeding heart and coral bells.

* In the vegetable garden, plant Jerusalem artichoke tubers, and strawberry and rhubarb roots.

* Transplant cabbage and its close cousins – broccoli, kale and cauliflower – as well as lettuce (both loose leaf and head).

* Indoors, start peppers, tomatoes and eggplant from seed.

* Plant artichokes, asparagus and horseradish from root divisions.

* Plant potatoes from tubers and onions from sets (small bulbs). The onions will sprout quickly and can be used as green onions in March.

* From seed, plant beets, chard, lettuce, mustard, peas, radishes and turnips.

* Annuals are showing up in nurseries, but wait until the weather warms up a bit before planting. Instead, set out flowering perennials such as columbine and delphinium.

* Plant summer-flowering bulbs including cannas, calla lilies and gladiolus.

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