Test PB Collection: FTE

Watering and pest control are top of the "To Do" list. Water after midnight and before 10 a.m. to reduce the chance of fungal infection and to conserve moisture. Pinch off the top pair of leaves on all chrysanthemum shoots longer than 5" to keep plants bushy and produce more flowers.

Continue mulching to conserve soil moisture and control weeds. Keep harvesting vegetables for continued production. Do the final pruning of summer for fruit bushes. Prune apricots to avoid Eutypa fungus. Remove about 20% of this year's growth.

Compost disease-free annuals and vegetable crops that have finished producing. Cultivate and add compost to the soil for fall and winter vegetables and annuals. Dig, divide, and replant overgrown perennials as they finish blooming. Weed and amend beds before replanting.

Clean out flower and vegetable gardens to discourage diseases and pests from overwintering in your beds. Rake leaves from ditches to make way for the rain that's coming. Re-program drip system timers for cooler weather and rain. Update your garden journal, noting what worked and what didn't work.

Prune and clean up for fire prevention. Oil and sharpen tools. Sand handles. Either varnish or spray paint handles to make them easy to find in the garden. Pull summer annuals and vegetables. Prune dead and broken branches on trees and shrubs. Rake and compost leaves and plant materials.

Continue to rake up leaves for composting and to control pests and diseases. Clean up garden beds. Keep an eye on the weather report, protect frost-tender plants when the temperature falls below 32 degrees. Prune non-flowering trees and shrubs while dormant.

Most people enjoy seeing deer in the wild. But the reality is deer can be very destructive to gardens, orchards, and landscaped areas, particularly in foothill and coastal districts where nearby woodlands provide cover. Mule deer, Odocoileus hemionus, and blacktailed deer, O.

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