Dig In: Garden checklist for week of July 26
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Keep those tomatoes harvested, and don’t forget to fertilize them. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)
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Overnight cooldown balances out afternoon heat
We may not reach triple digits, but expect this week to have its share of heat. That’s normal for the waning days of July, historically Sacramento’s hottest week of the year.
Highs for this week average 95 degrees. According to the National Weather Service, we’ll have hot, sunny days topping out at 98 degrees Sunday before settling down into a string of mid 90s — in other words, average weather for midsummer in Sacramento.
Fortunately, our nights will dip down to 60 or even a little cooler. That keeps the mornings (and soil temperature) comfortable.
Get out early and enjoy your garden before the mercury starts climbing.
* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that’s now forming.
* 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.)
*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 out 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.
* Indoors, start seedlings for fall vegetable planting, including bunching onion, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, radicchio and lettuce.
* Sow seeds of perennials in pots for fall planting including yarrow, coneflower and salvia.
* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips.
* Plant potatoes.
