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Autumn weather (and leaf season) finally are here

Garden forecast: November starts with real rain, then more warm days

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED NOV 1, 2024

Those colorful leaves overhead will soon be on the ground, ready for raking and scooping. Meanwhile, the blue sky of earlier today will yield to storm clouds tonight. Kathy Morrison

Grab your sweater (and an umbrella); our almost-endless summer is finally over.

After one of the hottest Octobers on record, it suddenly feels like the appropriate season (at least for a few days).

According to the National Weather Service, a fast-moving storm will give all of Northern California a deep soaking this weekend. By Saturday night, Sacramento is expected to receive .5 to 1 inch of rain (mostly overnight), with more in the foothills. In the Sierra, snow is forecast above 6,000 feet.

By Monday, we’ll be back to sunny skies – and higher temperatures. Sacramento should see afternoon highs in the low to mid 70s throughout the coming week.

That’s actually on the warm side. November in Sacramento averages highs of 64 degrees and lows of 43. As for rain, November starts our soggy season (fingers crossed), averaging just over 2 inches.

It’s a big contrast to our just-completed October, which saw a 35-degree swing in high temperatures (and almost no precipitation). Oct. 1 hit 102 degrees in Sacramento; the high on Halloween was only 67.

Such warm weather prolonged growth on many summer plants. (My remaining tomato vines are still blooming.) Those warm-weather remainders may start fading fast.

With nights now dipping into the 40s, expect to see fall foliage coloring up in a hurry – and leaves starting to come down in bushels. Leaf season has arrived.

In the City of Sacramento, leaf season officially begins Monday with the start of in-street pickup of leaves and garden waste. Before it wraps up in January, residents can expect “The Claw” – the city’s specialized leaf-scooping tractor – to visit your street seven times.

For pick-up schedule in your neighborhood, go to: https://www.cityofsacramento.gov/public-works/recycling-solid-waste/Collectionservices/Leaf_Season

For Sacramento weather updates: https://www.weather.gov/sto/

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GENERAL GARDENING

An article about gardening.

Keywords:

leaves leaf season trees fall November weather rain rainfall the Claw Sacramento gardening fall planting summer vegetables

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Garden checklist for week of Feb. 8

Dodge those raindrops and get things done! Your garden needs you.

* Start your spring (and summer) garden. 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 Brussels sprouts – 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.

* This is the last chance to spray fruit trees before they bloom. Treat peach and nectarine trees with copper-based fungicide. Spray apricot trees at bud swell to prevent brown rot. Apply horticultural oil to control scale, mites and aphids on fruit trees soon after a rain. But remember: Oils need at least 24 hours to dry to be effective. Don’t spray during foggy weather or when rain is forecast.

* Feed spring-blooming shrubs and fall-planted perennials with slow-release fertilizer. Feed mature trees and shrubs after spring growth starts.

* Remove aphids from blooming bulbs with a strong spray of water or insecticidal soap.

* Fertilize strawberries and asparagus.

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