June 2003

Edible

Mulch tomatoes, peppers and squash.

Plant pumpkin seeds in early June for an October harvest.

Spray cabbage with BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) for worm control. This is a safe biological control.

Protect the vegetable garden from rabbits. Purchase chicken wire fencing with one inch or smaller mesh. Wire should be at least three feet tall. Install around garden and bend back six inches of fencing and bury below the soil. This will keep rabbits from crawling underneath the fence.

Promote pollination in green peppers by tapping the flower clusters with a pencil to shake pollen from the flowers on to the pistil.

Do not allow chives to flower. After chives flower, the leaves become tough. Plants that flower will reseed and new plants are usually inferior to the parent plant.

Watch for fruit flies indoors. Fruit flies are 1/16 to 1/8 inch long and are light to dark brown in color. They will be found around overly ripe fruit, soft drink containers, open beer, mops, rags, brooms or buckets that are soiled with garbage, broken drain traps or floor drains that contain fermenting organic matter and near waste cans or garbage disposals. Fruit flies breed quickly. Control fruit flies by finding and eliminating the breeding site.

Ornamental

Place house plants outside for the summer. Keep them out of direct sunlight.

Notice freshly pruned twigs from trees on your lawn? Squirrels are the guilty party. Reasons for this behavior include water or nutritional needs, sharpening of teeth or marking of territory.

Keep lawns green by watering once or twice a week, instead of every day. Apply a total of 1-1.5 inches of water per week. As temperatures warm, make a decision to let your lawn go dormant or keep it green. Each time a lawn is brought out of dormancy, it uses stored nutrients.

Water trees planted over the last five years to a depth of eight inches.

The best methods for watering trees are soaker hoses or letting a hose run slowly on the ground. Letting a soaker hose run for one hour should wet the soil to the recommended depth. Dig down and check to be sure. Water under the spread of the tree crown, not just at the base of the tree.

Spray herbicides in the early morning. This is usually the least windy part of the day.

Watch for blackspot on roses. It appears as black spots or rings on the leaf surface surrounded by a yellowish halo. Hybrid tea roses are most susceptible. Fungicide spray programs are needed.Fungicides recommended are Daconil 2787 or fungicides containing Daconil, Phyton 27, Mancozeb, Funginex or Orthonex.

Use landscape fabrics to reduce weeds around trees and shrubs. Apply a one-inch layer of organic mulch over the fabric or stone or rock. Deeper organic mulch would allow weeds to grow in the mulch. Fabrics with the smallest pores are best at reducing weed growth. Test landscape fabrics by holding them up to light. The less light, the smaller the pores, so less weed growth.

Rejuvenate overgrown lilacs by cutting to the ground one-third of the largest branches each year for three years to encourage the growth of new shoots. The lilacs will rejuvenate without a complete loss of bloom or canopy.