Manage water

• Inspect your irrigation system zone by zone. Turn on each zone (each irrigation zone is controlled by a single irrigation valve). Check all drip lines and sprinklers. As you walk the zones, watch for leaks, broken heads, overspray, etc.

• Don’t overwater. Winter’s extra rain doesn’t mean your plants need — or even want — more water.

• Collect cold bath and shower water in a bucket. Use the water for potted plants, thirstier tropical fruits and vegetables.

• Mulch, mulch, mulch — but only if you have a drip irrigation system.

• Spray irrigation is not compatible with mulch. Too much water is wasted saturating the mulch before it can saturate the soil where the roots are. This is another reason to switch out spray irrigation for inline drip irrigation, not for individual emitter irrigation.

• As the summer temperatures rise, deep-water big trees once a month. Even drought-tolerant trees need a long drink to survive.

• Resist the urge to water plants native to regions where there is no summer rain: our California natives, South African, Australian, Mediterranean and coastal Chilean plants. Don’t know where your plants are from? Look them up online.

What to plant

Except right along the coast, it is too late to plant drought tolerant trees, shrubs, etc. Here’s what to plant instead:

Vegetables: tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, tomatillo, cucumber, squashes, pumpkins, melons

Annual herbs: basil, cilantro

Subtropical fruits: citrus, avocado, banana, passion vine, mango, etc.

Subtropical ornamentals: gingers (Heliconia, Zingiber), canna, angel trumpet (Brugmansia). Since these are thirsty plants, plant them sparingly and in a location with high visibility.

Houseplants

Now that nighttime temperatures are well above 50 degrees, move houseplants outside for summer. Place them in a sheltered spot with lots of indirect light, like a bright patio or covered balcony:

– Orchids

– Monstera

– Pathos

– Sansevieria

– Dracaena

– Spider plant

– Ficus

– And more

• Wash down leaves to remove dust and grime.

• Keep plants well-watered and feed them with each watering.

• Natural predators often feast on scale, mealy bugs and aphids once plants move outside. If not, rub the pests off with your fingers or a soft toothbrush, or blast them off with a sharp spray of water from a hose or from your kitchen faucet.

• Remove brown, dead leaves.

• Let the potting soil dry down so fungus gnats fly away.

• Repot plants that have outgrown their containers. Your plants spend their lives in potting mix. It’s worth the money to use a high-quality mix.

• Make cuttings now and let them root over summer.

Manage wildlife

Prepare to support birds and bees through the warm weather.

• Fill a shallow dish or birdbath with water.

• Add a solar powered floating birdbath pump that sprays water to recirculate it and keep it moving. That’s the best way to keep mosquitoes from breeding in the water.

• Add small pebbles, glass marbles, etc. for birds and bees to stand on as they drink.

• Check regularly to keep the water clean and the pump from clogging.

Insects and other tiny garden critters can be unnerving but seldom a problem. A few pests in the garden ensure their natural predators stick around. Your goal is to support the natural cycle to keep your garden in balance.

• Caterpillars and worms nibble on leaves but seldom kill plants. While a few aren’t an issue, if they are truly decimating your plants, pluck them off and leave them in an open area where hungry birds and lizards can find them. Birds and lizards are nature’s pest control!

• Control snails, slugs, and roly polies (aka pill bugs) with Sluggo Plus , an iron phosphate product that is not toxic to birds, mammals (including us), caterpillars, butterflies, etc.

Remember: Plants are not perfect. They aren’t supposed to be.

Vegetable gardens

Celebrate National Garden Week (June 4 to 10) by helping a friend start a herb or vegetable garden. Earn bonus points if that friend is a child!

• With the cool, long, wet spring, all vegetable plants are behind. If your tomatoes or eggplants etc. usually fruit by now but aren’t this year, don’t worry. As temperatures increase, so will production.
• If you still have room, start another round of tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, eggplants, basil and so on. The plants you start now — from seed or seedling — will produce into fall.
• Resist overplanting. Crowded plants grow into a jungle that reduces production and makes plants vulnerable to insects and disease.
• Pinch flowers and buds off seedlings from before planting until they’ve been in the ground for at least two weeks.
• Good air circulation prevents powdery mildew (white powder on leaves). Selectively remove branches to improve air flow. Also, rinse leaves with water early in the day to wash away mildew spores. Make sure leaves are dry by late afternoon.
• Remove the lowest tomato branches to prevent soil fungi from splashing onto leaves and infecting the plant.

• Some people mistakenly think that pruning off tomato suckers and branches forces the plants to make more fruits. The opposite is true, since leaves make the energy the plants use to make flowers and fruits. Leave the leaves.

• Mulch vegetable plants with a thick layer (3 or more inches) of straw — NOT hay, not bark, not wood.

Fertilize vegetables:

• Feed vegetable plants with organic vegetable fertilizer. Pull the mulch back; sprinkle fertilizer over the soil, water, then replace the mulch.
• OR add liquid fertilizer to your irrigation water – this process is called “fertigation” — half strength every time you water.
• ALSO use liquid fertilizer as a quick fix foliar spray for plants showing signs of nutrient deficiency.
• Skeletonized tomato leaves and tiny balls of green are evidence of tomato hornworms. Search for the green, white and black striped caterpillars on stems and backsides of leaves. Don’t be shy; pull off the worms and put them in an open space where hungry birds and lizards can find them.
• Skeletonized sunflower and squash leaves are the work of tiny birds called lesser goldfinches. Those birds also eat aphids, so welcome them to the garden.
• Avoid tomato and squash blossom end rot by keeping soil damp (not wet) at all times. In our climate and soils, blossom end rot is caused by uneven watering.
• Trellis cucumbers to keep the vines off the ground. It makes the fruits easier to find, too.
• Plant cilantro in the shade of cucumber trellises. They will produce more leaves, for longer, in a bit of shade.
• Give watermelon plants PLENTY of room. The vines of a single plant can easily cover a space 20 feet long by 20 feet wide! Pumpkin and vining winter squash plants do the same.

Fruit trees

• Fertilize fruit trees with organic fertilizer, following label directions. Water regularly and deeply during the fruiting and growing season.

• Fertilize citrus and avocado with granular, organic citrus and avocado food. Follow label directions.
• Water citrus deeply once a week or so. Pomegranates, figs and pineapple guava are best watered every two or three weeks, depending on the heat.