Dig In: Garden checklist for week of May 4

May can be a month of extremes. Which means gardeners need to be ready for just about anything – especially heat.

Triple-digit days in May are not uncommon in Sacramento; our May record is 105. (This month’s record low: a near-freezing 34.) Average afternoon highs are a much more comfortable 80; overnight lows average 51.

The coming week follows a recent pattern of a passing storm system putting the brakes on rising highs. Will Sacramento see any rain from that cloud cover? Unlikely, says the National Weather Service.

According to the weather service, thick clouds will drop temperatures down to the low 70s today (May 3), but we’ll be back in the mid 80s by Monday. Highs of 85 degrees are forecast for Sacramento from Monday through Wednesday.

Tomatoes will appreciate that heat, but remember to water. Seedlings and new transplants need moisture. Deep watering will help build strong roots and healthy plants.

Enjoy this spring weather – and get gardening!

* 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 cabbage, 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. Other perennials to set out include verbena, coreopsis, coneflower and astilbe.

* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, 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.

* Add mulch to the garden to maintain moisture. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch to 1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.