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Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Sept. 6

Change in weather pattern brings breezy almost-fall days

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED SEP 6, 2025

Keep harvesting those summer vegetables as long as the weather and the plants themselves allow. Kathy Morrison

What a difference 20 degrees makes! After a string of triple digits, Sacramento will see several days in the low 80s – maybe even some rain.

Labor Day weekend lived up to its red-hot forecast. Downtown Sacramento recorded four consecutive days of 100-plus highs, Saturday through Tuesday (Aug. 30-Sept. 2), including a record 103 degrees on Labor Day (Monday).

By contrast, this Monday (Sept. 8) is expected to top out at 82 degrees.

According to the National Weather Service, this dramatic swing in temperatures reflects a major “pattern shift.” Monday through Thursday will be significantly cooler than last week – and somewhat unpredictable.

“Weather system arrives early Monday morning, bringing unsettled weather through the middle of next week,” says the weather service’s Sacramento office. “(Expect) noticeably cooler, below normal temperatures (and) potential for showers and thunderstorms. High uncertainty regarding coverage and impacts.”

With this storm system comes gusty breezes through Friday, says the weather service. Sacramento will see maximum gusts of 15 to 21 mph every day.

That wind could fan wildfire. Be careful working with equipment outdoors. Avoid any sparks. Don’t burn leaves or other debris.

Hang onto your hat and tackle some garden chores.

* Now is the time to plant for fall. The warm soil will get these veggies off to a fast start.

* 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.

* Keep harvesting tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons and eggplant.

* Compost annuals and vegetable crops that have finished producing.

* Cultivate and add compost to the soil to replenish its nutrients for fall and winter vegetables and flowers.

* Fertilize deciduous fruit trees.

* 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.

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Garden checklist for week of May 17

With an eye on warmer weather to come, continue to work on the summer vegetable garden:

* Remember to irrigate your tender transplants. The wind can quickly dry out young plants. Seedlings need consistent moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants. Water early in the morning for best results.

* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.

* Harvest lettuce, peas and green onions.

* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)

* Plant dahlia tubers.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, calibrachoa, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, rudbeckia and verbena.

* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.

* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.

* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.

* Put your veggie garden on a regular diet. Set up a monthly feeding program, and keep track on your calendar. Make sure to water your garden before applying any fertilizer to prevent “burning” your plants.

* As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, give them a little pruning to shape them, removing old and dead wood. Lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias and marguerites for bushier plants.

* Don’t forget to weed! Those invaders are growing fast.

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