PESTS & DISEASES | EXPERTS | TREES | ANGELA'S PICKS
Maintenance this month- September
- LAWNS: Renovate
- Harvest ripe fruit and veggies early in the day.
- Adjust irrigation system for hot-weather conditions: Download the free UC publication "Lawn Watering Guide for California". This excellent guide solves the mystery of when to water and how much to apply. Pay special attention to young or newly-planted additions to your garden and check your pots daily! You may need to do more hose watering if we have several consecutive scorchers.
- Annuals & Perennials: Continue deadheading spent flowers. Cut back lightly once they've finished flowering.
- Order fall-planted spring-blooming bulbs
- Herbs: Keep from flowering to redirect energy to leaf production. Do this by harvesting often! Think pesto!
- Weed patrol: an ongoing task...
- Lawns: fertilize once this month. Be sure to water in immediately after to prevent fertilizer burn.
- Feed garden plants with a balanced fertilizer if leaves are looking chlorotic (and it's not due to other circumstances like overwatering, etc.) Pale yellow leaves often indicate nitrogen deficiency. Pale yellow leaves with green veins usually indicates iron deficiency. Liquid fert. like Miracle-Gro or a fish/kelp organic fertilizer gives the fastest results. A slow-release granular or pelletized fert. will feed slowly for months. Roses and citrus are heavy feeders. Are yours on a regular feeding program? Feeding them now will give you a bigger flush of fall blooms. Feed your acid-lovers (azalea, hydrangea, camellia and rhododendron) with acid plant food.
- Stake perennials like dahlia, gladiolus and chrysanthemum. If you want larger flowers, continue pinching off all lateral buds to promote growth of one large flower per stem.
- Watch for pests: Visit the IPM website for control measures. Learn to i.d. beneficials as well.
- Fruit trees: Clean up fallen fruit to avoid pest and diseases. If you haven't done so already, paint trunks of young fruit trees with interior white latex paint cut 50% with water to protect against sunscald.
- Mulch, Mulch, Mulch to help conserve soil moisture, protect roots from heat, suppress weeds and protect topsoil!
- If you like washing off your plants, do so in early morning, not afternoon or evening, to avoid disease problems.