February has been very wet; warmer (and dry) weather is on its way
Expect to see more daffodils and other spring flowers during the warmer, drier days ahead. Kathy Morrison
Looking at my rain gauge, I keep thinking: Are we there yet? How much is enough?
It’s been another soggy few days in California with some places getting way wetter than usual, leading to mudslides and sinkholes.
Here in Sacramento, it’s just been really rainy. The latest pair of atmospheric rivers dropped 2.25 inches over the long Presidents’ Day Weekend including a record 1.14 inches in downtown Sacramento on Sunday, Feb. 18.
Through Feb. 20, Sacramento received 4.49 inches, according to the National Weather Service. That’s about 2 inches more than normal for that same time period.
But overall, our water year – Oct. 1 through Sept. 30 – is tracking just ahead of average. Since Oct. 1, Sacramento has totaled 13.67 inches of rain; normal for that period is 12.12.
Although our rain totals are above normal, we’re not there yet – “there” being a final rain total. Sacramento gets 19.2 inches in an average water year. We’re still more than 5 inches from that benchmark – but we have more than seven months to get there.
Despite another rainy February, this winter has been mild compared to 2022-23. That wet and wild water year totaled 26.22 inches in Sacramento, 36.5% above average.
Warmer, drier days are on their way. According to the weather service, Sacramento will get a sunny break from rain through at least Sunday night. Sacramento might even hit 70 degrees on Saturday.
Expect to see an abundance of daffodils as well as other spring blooms.
That spring-like weather will make it tempting to plant warm-season crops or move tomato seedlings outdoors – but don’t. Soil temperatures, hovering around 54 degrees, are still too chilly for summer vegetables. Soil needs warm nights as well as days before it warms significantly.
And more cold nights are in the forecast, says the weather service. Sacramento’s overnight lows will dip down to as low as 41 degrees by Tuesday (Feb. 27) with several nights this week in the low 40s.
Keep baby tomato, eggplant and pepper plants inside where they’ll appreciate the extra (and consistent) warmth.
For more on Sacramento weather: https://www.weather.gov/sto/#.
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Garden Checklist for week of Jan. 12
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.
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