Dig In: Garden checklist for week of July 10

Get ready for a more normal July.

After some refreshingly “cool” days, Sacramento likely will see triple digits on Sunday and Monday, predicts the National Weather Service. That will be followed by a week full of 90s – right about average for mid-July in our region.

Overnight lows will be on the warm side, says the weather service, with nights in the 60s. That will keep soil warm – and plants growing fast! Watch the zucchini and tomatoes!

Harvest vegetables promptly to encourage plants to produce more. Squash especially tends to grow rapidly in hot weather.

* Keep your vegetable garden watered, mulched and weeded. Water before

8 a.m.

to reduce the chance of fungal infection and to conserve moisture.

* Water, then fertilize vegetables and blooming annuals, perennials and shrubs to give them a boost. Feeding flowering plants every other week will extend their bloom.

* Don’t let tomatoes wilt or dry out completely. Give tomatoes a deep watering two to three times a week.

* Pinch back chrysanthemums for bushy plants and more flowers in September.

* Remove spent flowers from roses, daylilies and other bloomers as they finish flowering.

* Pinch off blooms from basil so the plant will grow more leaves.

* Cut back lavender after flowering to promote a second bloom.

* One good thing about hot days: Most lawns stop growing when temperatures top 95 degrees. Keep mower blades set on high.

* Need to replace spent annuals? Plant petunias, snapdragons, zinnias and marigolds.

* From seed, plant corn, pumpkins, radishes, winter squash and sunflowers.