June Tips & Events for Santa Clara County |
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"The hum of bees is the voice of the garden." ~Elizabeth Lawrence
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The drought situation is very much in the news now and on our minds. After an even drier winter than usual, water restrictions are already being discussed. As gardeners, we are able to affect it as well as be affected by it. We can continue the movement of replacing thirsty lawns with drought-tolerant landscaping. Valley Water has a Landscape Rebate Program to help pay homeowners for making the conversion. We can irrigate efficiently by watering early in the morning and targeting water to the root zone while avoiding runoff or other waste. And we can prioritize the plants with more value, including food production or long-term investment.
Photo: Deep cracks in dry soil from drought, by Jack Kelly Clark, UC
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There are so many different varieties of basil, from Thai basil for Asian dishes to Italian basil for pasta sauce to African Blue basil for attracting bees with its flowers. Most are grown as an annual herb and need a little attention to keep them producing leaves throughout the summer. If they go to seed they will complete their life cycle. As soon as you see flowers forming, cut or pinch them off so that the energy will continue to go into the parts you want to eat. You can harvest individual leaves for making a caprese salad, keeping in mind that the lower leaves are the oldest, or you can cut entire plants if you are making a batch of pesto. It’s also best to cut the plant before flowering if you are drying the herb. You can allow some plants to go to seed if you want to plant the same variety next year or if you want to attract beneficial insects to your garden. Hybrids are propagated from cuttings.
Photo: Basil going to flower, by Jack Kelly Clark, UC
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All your summer vegetables are likely in the ground, beds, or containers by now. That doesn’t mean you can ignore them until it is time to harvest. And harvesting normally happens over weeks or months. Make sure you know what the vegetables will look like when mature; don’t be waiting for a green zebra tomato to turn red. Many vegetables are more tender when picked on the younger side. And they can go to seed and slow down production if left too long. Watering regularly is important. You need to water enough to get abundant production and make it worth the investment. Mulching and removing weeds will help conserve water for the vegetable plants. As with all plants, watch out for pests and diseases.
Photo: Sunnyvale Teaching and Demonstration Garden
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Cottony Cushion Scale
Scale insects populate the stems or branches of plants and suck out the nutrients. Some are soft and some are armored during part of the life cycle. Cottony cushion scale is a soft variety that is often seen on apple trees. The crawlers are reddish and the females develop elongated white egg sacs on their backs, but it is most likely the molting skins that look like cotton that will alert you to their presence. Small infestations can sometimes be wiped off with gloved fingers. Natural predators may also move in to take care of the problem. There are beetles and parasitic flies that can provide good control. Keeping ants out of the tree will also help because ants will protect the pests in order to be able to eat their sugary exudate.
Photo: Cottony cushion scale, by Laura Monczynski
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Thinning Fruit
If you don’t thin the fruit to what the fruit tree can support, the tree will do some of it for you. This is called June Drop and is perfectly natural. It helps you with not having to make as many hard decisions about what to keep. Soft fruits like peaches and apricots need a few inches between them so that they don’t touch and spread rot. Fruit that grows in clusters like apples should have no more than 1-2 fruits per group. Spacing needs to be balanced with the quality of the fruit, with a focus on keeping the larger fruits that are round in shape and free of blemishes. Thin when the fruit is less than an inch in diameter so as not to waste the tree’s energy. Shaking the tree can also cause weak fruit to fall. The result will be larger fruits and just as much overall yield by weight. Another way the tree can shed extra fruit is by breaking off a branch that is too heavily laden.
Photo: Apples in need of thinning, by Laura Monczynski
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Succulent Sale, Saturday, June 19, 9 am–1 pm, Martial Cottle Park, 5283 Snell (at Chenowyth), San Jose
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Check our calendar for the latest schedule of events. Videos of many past presentations are also available.
Photo: Sunflowers
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University of California Master Gardener volunteers promote sustainable gardening practices and provide research-based horticultural information to home gardeners. Visit our website for more information including:
Have a gardening question? Contact our Help Desk (for Santa Clara County residents). Start by reviewing our plant problem diagnosis tips and then:
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