June days are the longest of the year - take advantage of the extra hours in your garden.

Tasks

• Check drip irrigation lines and emitters for leaks or clogs and adjust to provide adequate moisture.
• Thin fruit on stone and pome fruit trees.
• Spider mites can be discouraged by rinsing dust from foliage.
• Stake tall, weak-stemmed flowers.

After harvesting berries, cut spent canes to the ground. (Photo: Sarah del Pozo)

• Cut spent canes to the ground after harvesting berries. Attach new canes to the trellis for next year's crop.
• Prune azaleas, camellias, and hydrangeas after bloom.

Fertilizing

• Reduce or eliminate fertilizer for landscape trees and shrubs, unless used to remedy nutrient deficiencies.
• Do not feed plants if they are water stressed.

Planting

• Limit planting during hot weather, as newly installed plants require frequent irrigation while root systems become established.

Enjoy now

• Annuals and perennials: Lily-of-the-Nile (Agapanthus), aster, fibrous begonia (Begonia semperflorens), Coneflowers (Rudbeckia).
• Bulbs, corms, tubers: giant allium (Allium), canna.
• Trees, shrubs, vines: abelia, desert willow (Chilopsis linearis), flowering maple (Abutilon).
• Fruits and vegetables: fuji apple, apricot, beans, eggplant.

Things to ponder

• Adjust lawn mower setting to cut lawn higher. Set mower to 2½ to 3 inches for tall fescue, ¾ inches to 1 inch for common bermuda, and ½ to ¾ inches for hybrid bermuda.
• Use less toxic insecticidal products such as insecticidal soaps or neem oil.
• Annuals such as pansies, petunias, and snapdragons are best planted in pots where they can provide a splash of color by an entrance rather than planted in beds where they will need more water.

Warm summer evenings in Fresno are perfect for backyard barbecues. (Photo: Pixabay)

Tasks

• Be sure your watering schedule conforms to new guidelines. Check sprinkler timer settings at least once a month.
• Water citrus being careful not to overwater. Continuously wet soil in the upper few inches risks root rot.
• Be sure mower blades are sharp. Clean cuts to the lawn reduce stress and the need for water.
• If severe drought restrictions are in place, concentrate on keeping your trees watered.

Pruning

• Fire blight is best pruned out in winter, but if the infection is spreading rapidly in a pear or apple tree during the growing season, prune out the infected growth as soon as it appears.
• Prune blackberries, raspberries and other caneberries after harvest.

Fertilizing

• Fertilize almond, apple, peach, nectarine, and plum.
• Apply a light feeding to summer flowers and vegetables. Water thoroughly after application.

Planting

• Spring planting season is over; keep recent plantings and transplants well-watered.

Enjoy now

• Annuals and perennials: Santa Barbara Daisy (Erigeron), blanket flower (Gaillardia), sunflower (Helianthus), strawflower (Helichrysum).
• Bulbs, corms, tubers: giant allium.
• Trees, shrubs, vines: Butterfly bush (Buddleja), Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis), Rose of Sharon (Hibiscus syriacus), morning glory (Ipomoea), lantana.
• Fruits and vegetables: figs, potatoes, squash, tomatoes.

Things to ponder:

• A walk around the garden just before dark can be a good opportunity to hunt for snails as they emerge to feed at night.
• If it rains in June, expect fruit damage.

We can complain that roses have thorns or rejoice that thorn bushes have roses. ~ Abraham Lincoln (Photo:Amy Tobin)

• Avoid cutting lawns too severely because the resulting stress causes yellowing.
• Water citrus being careful not to over water. Continuously wet soil in the upper few inches risks root rot.
• Hand pick hoplia beetles from white and yellow rose blossoms.

Pruning

• Remove spent blooms. Cut back annuals that have stopped blooming to encourage rebloom.
• De-candle black pines to encourage compact growth.

Fertilizing

• Avoid fertilizing herbs as too much fertilizer reduces flavor and fragrance.
• Last fertilization of citrus this month for this year.

Planting

• Spring planting season is over. Anything planted this month will need careful watering.
• Bulbs, corms, tubers: fall flowering (Crocus).
• Fruits and vegetables: corn, cucumber, plant from seed at timed intervals to prolong harvest.
• Annuals: globe amaranth (Gomphrena), lobelia.

Enjoy now

• Annuals and perennials: fibrous begonia (Begonia semperflorens), clustered bellflower, cockscomb (Celosia), morning glory (Convolvulus tricolor).
• Bulbs, corms, tubers: gladiolus.
• Trees, shrubs, vines: bird of paradise (Caesalpinia), bottlebrush (Callistemon), fringe tree (Chionanthus).
• Fruits and vegetables: apriums, cherry, cucumber, eggplant.

Things to ponder

• Garden and harvest crops in the cooler morning or evening hours.
• Never use honey, artificial sweeteners, or red food coloring in hummingbird nectar.

Trap snails and slugs beneath boards or flower pots. Collect frequently, smash and dispose. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Tasks

• Water and mow lawn. Set mower higher to shade out weeds and keep roots cool.
• Be cautious when applying sulfur to grapevines for mildew control. Damage occurs above 100°F.
• Trap, hand-pick or bait snails, slugs and earwigs. (See UC IPM pest note on snail and slug management.)
• Deeply water fruit and nut trees. Ideally, mature fruit trees should be irrigated to a depth of 3 feet.

Pruning

• Remove any unwanted sprouts on trunks of trees.
• Thin fruit trees allowing 4 to 6 inches between fruit.
• Deadhead roses to encourage repeat blooming.
• Remove dead branches from shrubs and trees.

Fertilizing

• Feed bedding plants with all-purpose fertilizer high in phosphorus.
• Feed vegetables and lawns with all-purpose fertilizer.

Planting

• Spring planting season is over. Anything planted this month will need careful watering.
• Fill in bare spots from earlier plantings of perennials and annuals.
• This is the last opportunity to transplant young plants.

Enjoy now

• Annuals and perennials: California poppy (Eschscholzia), Lantana.
• Bulbs, corms, tubers: squill (Seilla), Iris, amaryllis (Hippeastrum).
• Trees, shrubs, vines: oleander (Nerium), violet trump vine (Clytostoma).
• Fruits and vegetables: melon, asparagus, cucumber.

Things to ponder

• A garden of native flowering plants requires less water, fertilizer and energy than a traditional landscape.
• Weed seeds may survive for many years; many common weed seeds will germinate after 20 years.