Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Aug. 25

It rained! Folks throughout the greater Sacramento area woke up Saturday with that same exclamation.

Although unusual, August rain is not unheard of; downtown Sacramento historically averages 0.05 inch of August precipitation.

That’s likely more than we received from this fast-moving storm system. According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento’s rain total will be about 0.01 inch.

Areas north of Sacramento – such as Chico and Butte County – saw flash flood warnings Saturday as thunderstorms moved through the region. Recently burned areas were at particular risk.

But most of us saw no threat from this drizzle; just a little unexpected damp.

Keep the sprinklers on and get to work; heat is coming back soon.

By Tuesday, our afternoon highs will be in the high 90s and staying there through the end of August – only a week away.

There’s plenty to do while the weather is still on the cool side:

* 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. Always water before feeding.

* 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. Roses will rebloom about six to eight weeks after deadheading.

* If you haven’t done it yet, feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s now forming.

* 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.

* Mulch can be your garden’s best friend – it conserves moisture while blocking weeds. But don’t let mulch mound around stalks, stems or trunks. That can promote rot.

* Camellia leaves looking a little yellow? Feed them some chelated iron. That goes for azaleas and gardenias, too.

* Pinch off dead flowers from perennials and annuals to lengthen their summer bloom.

* 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, annuals and container plants.

* Fertilize fall-blooming perennials, too. Chrysanthemums can be fed until the buds start to open.

* Start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, kale, leeks, mustard greens, radicchio and lettuce.

* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.

* 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.

* Divide and replant bulbs, rhizomes and perennials.

* Dig up and divide daylilies as they complete their bloom cycle.