Dig In: Garden checklist for week of Aug. 1

A mini pumpkin forms on a trellis-trained vine. Phosphate-rich fertilizer

will help vegetables keep fruiting this time of year. (Photo: Kathy Morrison)

August weather gets off to a 'normal' start; time to think about fall

By Debbie Arrington

You know it’s been hot when 95 degrees feels like a “cooldown.”

After a steamy end to July, August starts out with no triple-digit temperatures in the immediate forecast. Instead, we’ll have a week full of “normal” not-so-hot August nights and days.

According to the National Weather Service, our coolest day this week should be Wednesday, which is forecast for a high of 91 and low of 58. That also happens to be Sacramento’s average high and low for August.

Make the most of this pleasant summer weather, especially in the morning when temperatures are coolest.

* 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.

* Give vegetables 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.

* Pick up after your fruit trees. Clean up debris and dropped fruit; this cuts down on insects and prevents the spread of brown rot. Then feed fruit trees with slow-release fertilizer for better production for next year.

* Feed citrus trees their last round of fertilizer for the year. This will give a boost to the fruit that's now forming.

* 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.

* In the garden, direct seed beets, carrots, leaf lettuce and turnips. Plant potatoes.