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.