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Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Sept. 1

After ‘cool’ Labor Day, triple-digit heat returns to Sacramento

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED AUG 31, 2024

Butternut squash and other winter squash may be ready to harvest soon. Generally the foliage will start to turn yellow and the stem will harden. Green on the skin, as on the one at left, means it's not ready yet. Kathy Morrison

Make the most of relatively “cool” weather this Labor Day weekend. More heat is coming soon.

According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento won’t even reach the 90s on Monday’s Labor Day holiday with an expected high of 89 degrees. Sunday’s forecast is on the temperate side, too, with a high of 90 degrees and an overnight low of 60.

But by Tuesday, temperatures will start climbing again. Wednesday and Thursday (and maybe more) are expected to reach at least 100 degrees. It’s one more challenge for our tomatoes, peppers and squash.

September typically is on the milder side, averaging highs of 87 degrees in Sacramento. That makes it excellent for planting – whether it’s veggie seeds or whole trees. Warm soil makes for rapid root development.

Just make sure to keep seeds and transplants comfortably moist. Don’t let them dry out during those hot days to come.

* September starts another season in the vegetable garden. Now is the time to plant for fall.

* Keep harvesting 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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Garden checklist for week of March 29

Make the most of this pleasant weather. Your garden is calling. (And those weeds won’t be ignored.)

* Get ready to swing into action in the vegetable garden. As nights consistently warm up over 50 degrees, start setting out tomato, pepper and eggplant transplants.

* From seed, plant beets, carrots, endrive, fennel, jicama, radishes, turnips and squash.

* Plant onion sets.

* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, celosia, cosmos, cornflowers, marigolds, salvia, verbena and zinnias.

* Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.

* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom. Late April is about the last chance to plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.

* Transplant heat-resistant lettuce seedlings.

* April is the last chance to plant citrus trees such as dwarf orange, lemon and kumquat. These trees also look good in landscaping and provide fresh fruit in winter.

* Smell orange blossoms? Feed citrus trees with a low dose of balanced fertilizer (such as 10-10-10) during bloom to help set fruit. Keep an eye out for ants.

* Apply slow-release fertilizer to the lawn.

* Thoroughly clean debris from the bottom of outdoor ponds or fountains.

* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.

* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.

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