Whether the pest you face is plant or animal, remember safety first. Read labels thoroughly before opening containers that hold garden chemicals.

Tasks

• Check drip and sprinkler systems – clean filters, check emitters, fix leaks, and re‐set timers.
• Watch for Western grapeleaf skeletonizer. Use Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) to control.
• Control gophers and moles with traps, baits or fumigation.
• Clean up drying vegetation within 30 feet of structures for fire prevention.

Pruning

• Remove spent lilac flower clusters just above points where leaf buds are forming.
• Hedges grow vigorously this month. Trim lightly every 2 or 3 weeks to maintain size and shape. Heavy pruning exposes the interior to sunburn.
• Thin apples to one fruit per cluster.

Fertilizer

• A little used more often is better than a lot at one time.
• Fertilize almond, apple, cherry and plum.
• Fertilize citrus.

Planting

• Spring planting season is over. Anything planted now will need careful watering.
• Fruits and vegetables: cucumber, eggplant, okra, parsley.

Enjoy now

• Annuals and perennials: California poppy (Eschscholzia), blue marguerite, coral bells (Heuchera), iris, sweet pea (Lathyrus), Texas ranger (Leucophyllum).
• Bulbs, corms, tubers: harlequin flower (Sparaxis tricolor).
• Trees, shrubs, vines: cistus (rock rose), rose.
• Fruits and vegetables: butter lettuce, peas, spinach.

Things to ponder

• This is the month to propagate geraniums and other soft wood perennials from cuttings.