Free UC webinar on 'Natural Enemies & Beneficial Bugs'
An adult lady beetle considers the dining offerings on an aphid-infested chard plant. Immature lady beetles are even more voracious eaters of aphids than the adults are. Kathy Morrison
A free lunchtime webinar on "Natural Enemies & Beneficial Bugs" is this month's online offering from the University of California's Statewide Integrated Pest Management Urban/Community program.
The session will be conducted on Zoom from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday, July 20. It also will be recorded and made available on YouTube at a later date.
Eric Middleton, area IPM adviser for San Diego County, will lead the presentation, which will cover natural enemies in the insect world. He will discuss how these beneficial bugs -- which prey on or parasitize insect pests -- can help gardeners protect their gardens without pesticides.
Register here for the webinar.
Past sessions have covered topics such as pantry pests, aphids, squirrels, bed bugs and termites. For links to view them, see the full list here. To learn more about the webinar series, including upcoming topics, visit this website.
The main UC IPM website contains a wealth of information on pests of all kinds. Check it out at https://ipm.ucanr.edu/
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Food in My Back Yard Series
May 6: Maintain soil moisture with mulch for garden success
April 29: What's (already) wrong with my tomato plants?
April 22: Should you stock up on fertilizer? (Yes!)
April 15: Grow culinary herbs in containers
April 8: When to plant summer vegetables
April 1: Don't be fooled by these garden myths
March 25: Fertilizer tips: How to 'feed' your vegetables for healthy growth
March 18: Time to give vegetable seedlings some more space
March 11: Ways to win the fight against weeds
March 4: Potatoes from the garden
Feb. 25: Plant a fruit tree now -- for later
Feb. 18: How to squeeze more food into less space
Feb. 11: When to plant? Consider staggering your transplants
Feb. 4: Starting in seed starting
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Garden Checklist for week of May 11
Make the most of the lower temperatures early in the week. We’ll be back in the 80s by Thursday.
* Plant, plant, plant! It’s prime planting season in the Sacramento area. Time to set out those tomato transplants along with peppers and eggplants. Pinch off any flowers on new transplants to make them concentrate on establishing roots instead of setting premature fruit.
* Direct-seed melons, cucumbers, summer squash, corn, radishes, pumpkins and annual herbs such as basil.
* Harvest cabbage, lettuce, peas and green onions.
* In the flower garden, direct-seed sunflowers, cosmos, salvia, zinnias, marigolds, celosia and asters. (You also can transplant seedlings for many of the same flowers.)
* Plant dahlia tubers.
* Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena.
* Keep an eye out for slugs, snails, earwigs and aphids that want to dine on tender new growth.
* Feed summer bloomers with a balanced fertilizer.
* For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers on roses as well as other flowering plants.
* Add mulch to the garden to maintain moisture. Mulch also cuts down on weeds. But don’t let it mound around the stems or trunks of trees or shrubs. Leave about a 6-inch-to-1-foot circle to avoid crown rot or other problems.
* Remember to weed! Pull those nasties before they set seed.
* Water early in the day and keep seedlings evenly moist.
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