- Prepared by: Terry Lewis
Tasks
- When using herbicides for weed control, spray on a calm day and protect plants by shielding them with a large piece of cardboard.
- Learn to use the ‘Season Adjust' feature on your controller to make irrigation adjustments easier.
- Apply mulch to plantings for water retention. Mulch should be 3 to 4 inches thick. Don't allow mulch to accumulate against stems or trunks of plants.
Pruning
- Shape spring-flowering shrubs after bloom.
- Take 4-inch soft wood cuttings to propagate perennials, such as chrysanthemum, azalea, marguerite, lavender, aster and geranium.
Fertilizing
- Feed vegetables and lawns, but use care with lawns, as nitrogen encourages lush growth that requires more water.
- Fertilize deciduous fruit and nut trees with one third of the annual amount of fertilizer needed.
Planting
- This is the end of the spring planting season. Many annuals and vegetables can be planted from seed or transplanted. As temperatures rise, water new plantings.
- Perennials: coneflower (Echinacea), beard tongue (Penstemon), gloriosa daisy (Rudbeckia), plant from seed.
- Bulbs, corms, tubers: fairy lily (Zephyranthes).
- Fruits and vegetables: corn, pumpkin, squash, watermelon, plant from seed.
- Trees, shrubs, vines: bottlebrush (Callistemon), cotoneaster, solanum (potato vine).
- Annuals: globe amaranth (Gomphrena).
Enjoy now
- Annuals and perennials: dianthus, twinspur (Diascia), wallflower (Erysimum), California poppy (Eschscholzia).
- Bulbs, corms, tubers: squill (Scilla).
- Trees, shrubs, vines: Photinia, Spirea.
- Fruits and vegetables: snap peas, turnips, onions.
Things to ponder
- To cover 100 square feet of space with mulch 3 inches deep, you will need one cubic yard of trunk space.
- Use the least toxic chemical – water, insecticidal soap, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) or horticultural oils – for pest control.
- Author: Lauren Fordyce
While preparing your garden for planting this spring, you may have found white grubs in the soil. While uncovering these sometimes large, white grubs can be alarming, they usually won't cause significant plant damage.
Grubs are the soil-dwelling larvae of several beetles in the Scarabaeidae family. They are generally C-shaped with whitish bodies and 6 legs. The larvae of smaller species may be less than 0.5 inch long, while larger species may be over 1 inch. Some grubs feed on living plant material while others do not.
In most cases, the presence of grubs does not require pesticide treatment and populations of 6 or less per square foot won't cause significant damage. If you notice them in your garden beds, they can be hand-picked and killed. Some may choose to feed them to their backyard chickens or leave them out for wild birds. Beneficial nematodes can be applied to control grub infestations.
To learn more about common white grubs, visit https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=56797