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Happy plants! Summer starts with more mild weather

Vegetables and flowers benefit from cooler than average temperatures

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED JUN 21, 2023

A double orange daylily blooms on the first day of summer in Sacramento. Mild June weather may extend bloom season for many late spring favorites. Debbie Arrington

Our (relative) cool streak continues, and that’s good news for our tomatoes and squash.

Summer officially started at 7:57 a.m. Wednesday and, according to the National Weather Service, our new season starts like the last one ended – with below-average temperatures.

“Happy Summer Solstice!” tweeted the NWS Sacramento office on Wednesday morning. “We’re feeling cool for the Summer with these high temperatures. Our highs start to warm slightly as we head into the weekend but our temps will still be below average!”

The forecast calls for Sacramento highs of only 78 degrees on Thursday and 79 on Friday – 10 degrees below our late-June average. We’re expected to warm up slightly to 82 degrees on Saturday and Sunday and can expect more low 80s heading into next week.

So far, June’s daytime highs are averaging four degrees below normal – 82.6 compared to 86.7, says the weather service. That comes after a coolish May with daytime highs averaging three degrees below normal (77.2 compared to 80.3).

While daytime temperatures remain on the cool side, we’re staying relatively warm after dark with overnight lows in the mid 50s. June’s average lows are barely below normal, averaging 55.2 degrees (compared to our historic average of 55.9). That helps soil retain its warmth and keeps summer vegetables growing fast.

Coupled with these mild days, this is ideal weather for rapid development in the vegetable garden. Light breezes should help pollinate tomatoes. Bees and other pollinators love this weather, too; setting new squash and melons shouldn’t be a problem either.

The key will be water. No rain is anywhere in our forecast, so irrigate these fast-growing veggies deeply at least once or twice a week.

Also benefiting from cooler weather: Spring and early summer flowers. Expect our bloom season to continue with big flourishes of roses and lilies.

On the minus side, lots of insects love these mild but warm temperatures. Watch out for explosions of aphids, whiteflies and spider mites.

Also enjoying these days in the 70s: Powdery mildew. Snip off and dispose of infected foliage.

This cool streak is unlikely to last – this is summer in Sacramento. The last June without at least one triple-digit day: 1998.

Our current weather pattern is similar to 2009, notes forecasters. That June also started out with below-average temperatures, but got hot in a hurry; Sacramento hit 108 degrees on June 28 that year.

Long-range predictions for July 2023 say Sacramento will be typically hot and maybe a notch above normal. Forecasters expect the month to average highs of 94 degrees; normal is 92.

For more on Sacramento forecasts: https://www.weather.gov/sto/.

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Sacramento gardening June weather daylily summer pests powdery mildew National Weather Service summer forecast

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Flowers in My Back Yard Series

Aug. 25: Crape myrtles, Sacramento's unofficial tree of summer

Aug. 18: Pollinators adore scabiosa, aka pincushion flower

Aug. 11: Hardy hibiscus adds big tropical impact

Aug. 4: Dianthus a deceptively hardy flower

July 28: Naked Ladies put on summer show

July 21: Thank Luther Burbank for these long-lasting beauties (Shasta daisies)

July 14: How to keep hydrangeas happy

July 7: Grow these bright cosmos for bees and butterflies

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

Feb. 3: Why grow flowers?

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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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