Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Aug. 31

So much for our “cool” summer. Our current Labor Day weekend heat wave is closing out summer on a high note – as in 100 degrees.

September starts with sizzle, too. Triple-digit temperatures (or close to it) are forecast through Wednesday for much of the greater Sacramento area, according to the National Weather Service. Don’t expect any real relief from the heat until Friday, with an expected high for downtown Sacramento of 92 degrees.

That’s still above normal for the first week of September, with an average high of 87 degrees.

In the garden, this late-season heat likely will finish off many summer staples such as squash and tomatoes. Pull plants that have stopped producing (and are now turning brown and crispy). It’s time to make way for fall planting.

If tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and other summer veggies still have new growth (and flowers), they can stick around. Late-season tomatoes enjoy a warm September. Just remember to keep them watered.

Until temperatures start to cool, get outside early and take advantage of cooler mornings.

* September starts another season in the vegetable garden. Now is the time to plant for fall. The warm soil will get these veggies off to a fast start.

* Keep harvesting tomatoes, peppers, squash, melons and eggplant.

* Compost annuals and vegetable crops that have finished producing.

* Cultivate and add compost to the soil to replenish its nutrients for fall and winter vegetables and flowers.

* Fertilize deciduous fruit trees.

* 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. Transplant cool-weather annuals such as pansies, violas, fairy primroses, calendulas, stocks and snapdragons.

* Divide and replant bulbs, rhizomes and perennials.

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

* Divide and transplant peonies that have become overcrowded. Replant with “eyes” about an inch below the soil surface.