Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Jan. 12

Hang on to your hats (and your trellises, too)! It’s windy out there.

According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento can expect strong winds through Sunday with gusts up to 45 mph. Blowing from the north, this wind will be chilly. Although the sun is shining, it will feel relatively cold outside.

For the greater Sacramento area, the biggest issue from these winds will be broken branches and possibly uprooted trees. Evergreens such as redwoods and cedars are at greatest risk; their foliage acts like a giant sail, catching all that wind. Be careful where you park your car.

The wind is expected to stick around through Tuesday, but its direction will change, says the weather service. Instead of blowing from the north, the wind will shift to the east.

Fortunately, our recent rains dramatically reduced potential fire danger in Northern California. It may be windy, but no red flag warnings are expected here. (Fingers crossed.)

Instead, we have frost alerts.

In fact, some foothill areas may get down to freezing this week. According to the weather service, Sacramento will see lows of 34 or 35 degrees in the predawn hours Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Take frost precautions before you go to bed, including protection of sensitive plants.

Otherwise, our daytime temperatures will be slightly above normal with afternoons hovering around 60 degrees. This month averages highs of 54 degrees and lows of 39.

Once the winds die down, it’s good winter gardening weather with plenty to do:

* 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 the time to prune fruit trees. (The exceptions are apricot and cherry trees, which are susceptible to a fungus that causes dieback. Save them until summer.) 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.

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

* After the wind stops, apply horticultural oil to fruit trees 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 gladioli 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.