Garden Checklist: Spring into garden overdrive

Happy spring! No more “early” about it; the new season is officially here. That means no more excuses – get busy! Prepare garden beds by digging in compost, aged manure and soil amendments. Let it mellow for at least two weeks before planting those beds.

▪  Got ground ready for growing? In the vegetable garden, plant seeds for beets, carrots, celery, Swiss chard, endive, fennel, jicama, leaf lettuce, mustard, radishes and turnips.

▪  In the flower garden, plant aster, celosia, cosmos, larkspur, nasturtium, nicotiana, portulaca, salvia, snapdragon, verbena and zinnia.

▪  For frost watchers, Monday represents the average last day of frost in much of the greater Sacramento area. That doesn’t mean it’s not cold at night. Protect early, warm-weather transplants (tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, etc.) with plastic 2-liter soda bottles or gallon jugs. Cut off the bottom and leave the top open for air circulation.

▪ Weed, weed, weed. Get them out before they go to seed. According to master gardeners, the most common weeds in Sacramento County in March: filaree, wild geranium, bedstraw and such annual grasses as foxtail, barley, wild oats and bluegrass.

▪ Instead of pulling weeds, use a sharp hoe. Cut the weeds off just under the root crown; aim for about a half-inch below soil level. That method disturbs soil less than pulling weeds, and keeps new seeds from migrating to the surface where they can sprout.

Debbie Arrington

This story was originally published March 20, 2015 at 5:00 PM with the headline "Garden Checklist: Spring into garden overdrive."