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One last gasp for summer vegetables

Triple-digit heat again challenges tomatoes, squash

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED SEP 6, 2024

These tomatoes were pollinated during the recent weather break -- before this week's triple-digit heat. But will they have time to mature before fall weather settles in? Debbie Arrington

To pull or not to pull? That’s the question after high temperatures just about finished off our summer crops.

Sacramento started September with a string of triple-digit days. On Friday (Sept. 6), the Sacramento region remained under a heat advisory until 8 p.m. So far this month, daytime highs averaged just under 96 degrees – almost five degrees above normal for this week.

This heat browned leaves and vines on many plants. It also brought bee activity (so crucial for pollination) to a standstill. And that impacted squash.

In this weather, zucchini develop little baby squash that start out OK, but never seem to develop. It rots before it reaches 4 or 5 inches long. The Brits call it “courgette rot,” referring to the English name for zucchini. It’s due to insufficient pollination.

Extreme heat complicates bees’ lives. If temperatures top 100 degrees (as it has almost daily this month), worker bees need to bring water back to their hives, from one quart to a gallon a day. They’re too busy to pollinate.

So, female zucchini blossoms – which start forming baby squash before the bees arrive – never get the attention they need from pollinators. Without proper pollination, the squash rot before they mature. This issue can happen to other cucurbits as well such as crookneck squash and pumpkins.

Tomatoes depend on wind, not bees, for pollination. But on days above 95 degrees, tomato pollen dries out before it ever has a chance to set fruit.

I’ve been nursing my vines along in hopes of fall tomatoes. Our red-hot July (the hottest July on record in Sacramento) prevented fruit set during a time when tomatoes are usually at their most productive. We had just enough of a break in the weather in August for my tomatoes to set some fruit; those baby green tomatoes are forming now. But will they have enough time to mature?

Although these hot days feel like midsummer, chilly fall weather is not far away. Those baby toms need at least six to eight more weeks of warmth – just not all this heat.

That leads back to the original question: To pull or not to pull? The plants with baby tomatoes or squash – or flowers – can stay put for a little longer. Even if those green tomatoes never turn red on the vine, they may still ripen indoors on the kitchen counter.

Trim off dead or browned leaves and vines, so plants can concentrate on wrapping up their production. Give the bushes a deep watering and some fertilizer high in phosphates such as bone meal. (Hope springs eternal.)

Otherwise, turn the page – and pull out those faded summer crops. Remember: September is an excellent time to plant cool-season vegetables.

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heat weather summer September Sacramento gardening summer vegetables tomatoes squash bees pollen pollinators

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Flowers in My Back Yard Series

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June 30: Agapanthus adds blue fireworks to the garden

June 23: Easy-care gazanias fill those hot corners

June 16: Daylilies are perfect for water-wise gardens (and a lot more)

June 9: Grow coneflowers for pollinators -- and yourself

June 2: Sunflowers capture Sacramento's summer attitude

May 29: Are your roses going 'blind'?

May 26: Zinnias are the summer flowers every garden needs

May 19: Plant dahlias now for late-summer flower power

May 12: Know your coreopsis from your bidens

May 5: Mums the word on Mother's Day weekend

April 28: Majestic Matilija poppy is worth a look

April 21: Celebrate roses, America's favorite flower

April 14: Small flowers with outsized impact

April 7: Calendulas do double duty

April 3: Make Easter lilies last for years to come

March 31: In praise of a pollinator magnet (small-leaf salvias)

March 24: Azaleas brighten shady spots

March 17: The perfect flower for beginners? Try zonal geraniums

March 10: Keep camellias happy for years to come

March 3: Fruit tree blossoms are a fleeting joy

Feb. 27: Are your roses looking rusty?

Feb. 24: Treasure spring daffodils now and for years to come

Feb. 17: How and why to grow wildflowers

Feb. 10: Let's talk Valentine's Day roses

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Garden checklist for week of Aug. 16

During this break in the heat, feed your garden. Make sure to water before and after applying fertilizer.

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

* Plant potatoes.

* 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.

* 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 still small.

* 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? Give them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* 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 and container plants. Always water before fertilizing.

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

* 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. Make sure to water plants before feeding. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* 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.

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