Fall gets off to a hot start; it’s time to plant for cool weather ahead
For gorgeous clumps of California poppies in the spring, plant seeds now. Kathy Morrison
Happy autumn equinox! Sunday is the official first day of fall, but it will feel more like mid-summer. (That recent cool weather was just a pre-fall tease.)
According to the National Weather Service, Sunday’s high in Sacramento will be in the mid 90s. By Monday, we’ll be flirting with 100.
The high heat won’t stick around but the weather will still be warm, with afternoon highs of 90 degrees forecast for downtown Sacramento on Wednesday and Thursday. That’s still five degrees above average for late September in Sacramento.
The good news: Warm soil is great for planting and rapid root development. Wait until after Tuesday’s peak for any transplanting, then keep seedlings irrigated. With this weather, they’ll grow fast!
* Keep harvesting tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons and eggplant. Some tomatoes and peppers may stretch their harvest into October or November.
* Compost annuals and vegetable crops that have finished producing. If you see no new fruit on your tomatoes, pull them out.
* 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.
* Late September is ideal for sowing a new lawn or re-seeding bare spots.
Comments
0 comments have been posted.Sacramento Digs Gardening to your inbox.
Thanks to Our Sponsor!
Local News
Sites We Like
Garden Checklist for week of Oct. 6
Get ready to get to work! Cooler weather is headed our way mid-week.
* Clean up the summer vegetable garden and compost disease-free foliage.
* Harvest pumpkins and winter squash.
* October is the best month to plant trees, shrubs and perennials.
* Before planting, add a little well-aged compost and bone meal to the soil, but hold off on other fertilizers until spring. Keep the transplants well-watered (but not wet) for the first month as they become settled.
* Dig up corms and tubers of gladioli, dahlias and tuberous begonias after the foliage dies. Clean and store in a cool, dry place.
* Treat azaleas, gardenias and camellias with chelated iron if leaves are yellowing between the veins.
* Now is the time to plant seeds for many flowers directly into the garden, including cornflower, nasturtium, nigella, poppy, portulaca, sweet pea and stock.
* Plant seeds for radishes, bok choy, mustard, spinach and peas.
* Plant garlic and onions.
* Set out cool-weather bedding plants, including calendula, pansy, snapdragon, primrose and viola.
* Reseed and feed the lawn. Work on bare spots.
Powered by California Local
