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Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Dec. 27

Enjoy sunny breaks in between showers and fog

Sacramento Digs Gardening
BY Debbie Arrington PUBLISHED DEC 26, 2020

This little peach tree has dropped all its leaves. It's the ideal time to spray the tree to prevent peach leaf curl, plus prune it if needed. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

Fog, showers and occasional sun; weather-wise, the final days of 2020 will be a mixed bag for Sacramento.

After a healthy soaking on Christmas night, more rain is in the forecast for Sunday night, Monday and Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service. In between, expect mostly patchy ground fog and cloudy skies. The sun will break through Tuesday and Friday, New Year's Day.

Temperature wise, afternoons will mostly be in the low to mid 50s with overnight lows in the 30s (but not quite freezing).

Make the most of those sunny afternoons. There's plenty to do in the winter garden:

* Prune, prune, prune. Now is the time to cut back most deciduous trees and shrubs. The exceptions are spring-flowering shrubs such as lilacs and Japonica camellias .
* It's also the time to prune most fruit trees. (The exceptions are citrus and apricots.) 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.
* 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 oil to peach and nectarine trees to fight leaf curl.
* Divide daylilies, Shasta daisies and other perennials.
* Cut back and divide chrysanthemums.
* 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.

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cool-season annuals winter chores Sacramento peach leaf curl roses garden cleanup garden checklist fruit trees gardening pruning shrubs bulbs perennials

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Garden Checklist for week of May 5

Survey your garden after the May 4 rainstorm. Heavy rain and gusty winds can break the neck of large flowers such as roses. Also:

* Keep an eye on new transplants or seedlings; they could take a pounding from the rain.

* Watch out for powdery mildew. Warmth following moist conditions can cause this fungal disease to “bloom,” too. If you see a leaf that looks like it’s dusted with powdered sugar, snip it off.

* After the storm, start setting out tomato transplants, but wait on the peppers and eggplants (they want warmer nights). Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.

* Trim dead flowers but not leaves from spring-flowering bulbs such as daffodils and tulips. Those leaves gather energy to create next year's flowers. Also, give the bulbs a fertilizer boost after bloom.

* Pinch chrysanthemums back to 12 inches for fall flowers. Cut old stems to the ground.

* Mulch around plants to conserve moisture and control weeds.

* From seed, plant beans, beets, cantaloupes, carrots, corn, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, radishes and squash.

* Plant onion sets.

* In the flower garden, plant seeds for asters, cosmos, celosia, marigolds, salvia, sunflowers and zinnias. Transplant petunias, zinnias, geraniums and other summer bloomers.

* Plant perennials and dahlia tubers for summer bloom.

* Don’t wait; plant summer bulbs, such as gladiolus and tuberous begonias.

* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.

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