Garden Maintenance

Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

UC Master Gardeners recommend an integrated approach to solving pest problems by minimizing pesticides and using techniques found in nature. This broad-based scientific approach is called Integrated Pest Management (IPM).

• Identify the Problem: Home, Garden, Turf, and Landscape Pests

• Avoid Spreading Exotic and Invasive Plants and Pests

• A Broad Look at Managing Pests in Gardens and Landscapes

• A Weed Photo Gallery: Identify Broadleaf, Grass, Sedge, Aquatic

• Environmentally Sound Methods for Managing Pests; Plus, a Problem Diagnostic Tool

• Prune Fruit and Shade Trees, and Shrubs, to Manage Pests and Diseases

• Pesticide Use

Pruning techniques

Understanding the basic form of a tree, then pruning and training using proper techniques, will help that tree grow into its most structurally sound and graceful shape. It’s important to start when the tree is young. The same holds true for pruning shrubs.

• An Illustrated Guide to Basic Pruning
  

• Training and Pruning Fruit Trees in the Backyard Orchard

• The Big Picture: Pruning Techniques

• Pruning Fruit Trees in Summer (video)

• Best Time to Prune Shrubs

Weeds and other invasive plants

Every gardener knows weeds -- uninvited plants that interfere with land and water resources, are unattractive or unwanted, or just get in the way. A distinct group of weeds that occur in natural habitats are classified as invasive plants and can cause significant damage.

• Is That Beautiful Plant an Invader?

• How Do Weeds and Invasive Plants Differ?

• Four Categories of Weeds: Broadleaf, Grass, Sedge, Aquatic

• An Interactive Weed Identification Tool

• Weed Management in Gardens and Landscapes

• Plants A to Z

The California Invasive Plant Council in Berkeley maintains an inventory list of invasive species (including invasive weeds) and funds eradication projects.