Resource for gardeners to be published three times annually
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| This is a screen shot of the first page of the new e-newsletter from UC IPM. |
No gardener enjoys battling pests in spring. But there's a way to at least limit the damage: Do a thorough cleanup of the garden in fall and winter.
That's one of the messages in the new email newsletter from the University of California Integrated Pest Management program.
UC IPM is an invaluable resource for anyone who spends time with plants, from farmers to backyard gardeners. The program's experts, for example, track invasive pests that could ruin California's valuable agricultural output. On a smaller scale, they also recommend environmentally friendly methods of pest abatement so home gardeners can avoid using toxic chemicals.
All recommendations and information are solidly based on UC research. And pests, of course, aren't just insects but things such as weeds, invasive plants, diseases, birds, mammals and reptiles.
The newsletter will go out three times per year, produced by the Urban and Community IPM Team. Email signup is here.
Issue No. 1 includes an extensive list of garden tasks for fall and winter, starting with that all-important cleanup, but also pruning, planting, adjusting irrigation, monitoring for pests and lawn care.
The Invasive Pest Spotlight article focuses on the black fig fly, a new invasive species recently found in Southern California orchards.
The IPM program website, a veritable rabbit hole of pest information, is ipm.ucanr.edu .
-- Kathy Morrison
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Food in My Back Yard Series
May 13: Your plants can tell you more than any calendar can
May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success
April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?
April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)
April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers
April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds
March 4: Potatoes from the garden
Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space
Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting
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Garden Checklist for week of May 11
Make the most of the lower temperatures early in the week. We’ll be back in the 80s by Thursday.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)
* Plant dahlia tubers.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Add mulch to the garden to maintain moisture. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch-to-1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.
* Remember to weed! Pull those nasties before they set seed.
* Water early in the day and keep seedlings evenly moist.
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