Hello again, Westside Gardeners.
The anticipation of autumn weather means continued warm days and nights in the Westside. It’s also the optimal time to accomplish certain garden duties before the weather cools and seed-eating birds migrate.
First, dethatching and aeration can renovate our lawns. These two procedures help remove thatch and provide oxygen and sunlight to grass root systems. If you want to over-seed your lawn, this is also a good time since it’s still warm during the night and day.
This is also a good time to think about planting trees and shrubs. During this time, tree and shrub roots will enjoy the warmth of the soil. Give them plenty of water till the rainy season.
Spreading compost and arbor mulch will help enrich and keep the soil cool this time of year. Please ensure your gardeners don’t blow away this material with leaf blowers.
I see gardeners blowing good earth matter and leaves into the streets way too often.
Continue to deep water your trees, shrubs, lawns and vegetation garden. Sprinkling doesn’t do any good. Deadheading your herbaceous perennials and woody shrubs is a must to allow continuous flowering.
Watch out for soft-bodied insects: these include aphids, scale and mealybugs. They become very invasive this time of year.
I like using a horticultural oil and a systemic insecticide. The oil will suffocate the insects on the foliage, and the systemic insecticide will take care of the remaining.
Anyone needing advice can feel free to write to me. I would be more than happy to help you.
Mark Koehler of Los Banos is an arborist and master gardener who has degrees in landscape architecture and landscape horticulture from UC Berkeley and Northeastern University. Please send any questions or comments to markgardenguru@gmail.com.
