Dig In: Garden checklist for week of July 6

Got a garden to-do list? Now is the time to take action. Temperatures won’t be better for gardening activities.

According to the National Weather Service, Sacramento will enjoy below-average but still summery afternoon highs in the upper 80s through midweek. Forecast high for Tuesday, July 8, is “only” 88 degrees; normal for that date is 92.

Mornings are even better, staying in the 60s and 70s until noon. These comfortable temperatures are due to offshore breezes from our Delta “air conditioner.” Meanwhile, overnight lows will stay in the mid 50s, average for July.

Alas, this weather pattern is about to change. The weather service forecasts 100 degrees for Sacramento on Thursday and Friday, July 10 and 11. Coincidentally, Friday is Opening Day for the California State Fair.

So, what are you waiting for? Your garden needs you!

* 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.

* Feed vegetable plants bone meal or other fertilizers high in phosphate to stimulate more blooms and fruiting.

* It’s not too late to add a splash of color. Plant petunias, snapdragons, zinnias and marigolds.

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

* 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.