Tasks
- Clean up drying grasses within 30 feet of structures for fire prevention. This also encourages spring growth.
- Deeply water fruit and nut trees. Ideally, mature fruit trees should be irrigated to a depth of three feet.
- Blast aphids from plants with a spray of water or insecticidal soap.
Pruning
- Pinch back perennials and fast-growing annuals to encourage dense growth and more blooms.
- Thin vegetable seedlings by pinching or clipping, rather than pulling them out of the soil, which will damage neighboring plants.
- Prune deciduous magnolia, dogwood, forsythia, lilac, azalea, spiraea, camellia and flowering quince after bloom.
Fertilizing
- Roses, citrus, container plants and berries with slow-release fertilizer.
- Acid-loving plants such as camellias and azaleas after bloom.
Planting
- Plant annuals and perennials while it is still cool so they can establish a good root system before the weather becomes really hot.
- Annuals: Floss flower (Ageratum), bachelor's button (Centaurea), bee balm (Monarda).
- Bulbs, corms, tubers: gladiolus.
- Fruits and vegetables: transplant cucumbers and peppers.
- Trees, shrubs, vines: Cedar (cedrus), desert willow (Chilopsis), rose of Sharon (Hibiscus), trumpet vine (Clytostoma).
Enjoy now
- Annuals and perennials: calendula, Leucanthemum paludosum, larkspur (Consolida), delphinium.
- Bulbs, corms, tubers: iris.
- Trees, shrubs, vines: almond, redbud, dogwood (Cornus), hawthorn (Crataegus), heather (Erica), grevillea.
- Fruits and vegetables: artichoke, lemon, lime, mandarin orange, peas.
Things to ponder
- Mosquitos can breed in even very small quantities of standing water. Don't give them a home in your garden!
- Develop a drought plan for your garden in case water restrictions are implemented.