Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Dec. 29

A fast-moving storm system delivers one last soggy note to 2024. A coda to last week’s atmospheric river, this one comes with a twist – gusty winds blowing from the south.

According to the National Weather Service, most of the moisture will be north of the Sacramento area and headed to the Sierra. A warm storm, it will deliver more rain than snow.

In Sacramento, most of the rain is expected early Sunday morning before dissipating in early afternoon. It won’t be much – about ¼ inch for Downtown. Foothill communities can expect more.

Blowing those storm clouds will be strong winds, says the weather service. Sacramento can expect 30 to 35 mph winds Sunday, with gusts up to 50 mph. That’s enough to bring down branches or whole trees, especially if they're standing in saturated soil.

Be on the lookout for danger – leaning trunks or ruptured soil. That could indicate a tree could topple. Strong winds can snap limbs, too. Heavy horizontal branches on evergreens are the most likely to drop in such winter storms.

Tie down ornaments or anything else that may blow around, advises the weather service.

After Sunday’s wind and rain, we settle into a typical pattern for early January – highs in the low to mid 50s, with overnight lows in the upper 30s and patchy ground fog.

That’s prime pruning weather. Get to work!

* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs.

* Now is a prime time to prune fruit trees. (But not cherry or apricot trees -- they're susceptible to the fungus Eutypa dieback in wet weather; save those for July or August.) Clean up leaves and debris around the trees to prevent the spread of disease.

* Prune roses, even if they’re still trying to bloom. Strip off any remaining leaves, so the bush will be able to put out new growth in early spring.

* Prune Christmas camellias (Camellia sasanqua), the early-flowering varieties, after their bloom. They don’t need much, but selective pruning can promote bushiness, upright growth and more bloom next winter. Feed with an acid-type fertilizer. But don’t feed your Japonica camellias until after they finish blooming next month. Feeding while camellias are in bloom may cause them to drop unopened buds.

* Clean up leaves and debris around your newly pruned roses and shrubs. Put down fresh mulch or bark to keep roots cozy.

* Apply horticultural oil to fruit trees soon after a rain to control scale, mites and aphids. Oils need 24 hours of dry weather after application to be effective.

* This is also the time to spray a copper-based fungicide to peach and nectarine trees to fight leaf curl. (The safest, effective fungicides available for backyard trees are copper soap -- aka copper octanoate -- or copper ammonium, a fixed copper fungicide. Apply either of these copper products with 1% horticultural oil to increase effectiveness.)

* When forced bulbs sprout, move them to a cool, bright window. Give them a quarter turn each day so the stems will grow straight.

* Browse through seed catalogs and start making plans for spring and summer.

* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.

* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.

* Plant bare-root roses, trees and shrubs.

* Transplant pansies, violas, calendulas, English daisies, snapdragons and fairy primroses.

* In the vegetable garden, plant fava beans, head lettuce, mustard, onion sets, radicchio and radishes.

* Plant bare-root asparagus and root divisions of rhubarb.

* In the bulb department, plant callas, anemones, ranunculus and gladiolus for bloom from late spring into summer.

* Plant blooming azaleas, camellias and rhododendrons. If you’re shopping for these beautiful landscape plants, you can now find them in full flower at local nurseries.