Master Gardener Monthly Hints

By: Carol Savonen , Source: Pat Patterson

OSU Extension Agent Garden Hints are available from the OSU Extension Gardening Portal web site and the Monthly Garden Calendar

~ June ~

Garden Hints

• First week: spray cherry trees for cherry fruit fly and brown rot if fruit is ripening.
• First week: spray for codling moth and scab in apple and pear trees. Continue use of pheromone traps for insect pest detection.
• Tie red raspberry canes to wires; prune to 1 foot above the top wire or wrap the canes around the top wire. Check for holes made by crown borers at base of plant, treat with registered insecticides if seen.
• Apples and crabapples that are susceptible to scab disease will begin dropping leaves as weather warms. Rake and destroy fallen leaves; spray with summer-strength lime sulfur, wettable sulfur, Immunox, or Captan.
• Plant insectory plants to attract beneficial insects to your garden. Check with local nurseries for best selections.
• Plant dahlias and gladioli.
• Learn to identify beneficial insects and plant some insectory plants (Alyssum, Phacelia, coriander, candytuft, sunflower, yarrow, dill) to attract them to your garden. Check with local nurseries for best selections.
• Lawn mowing: set blade at 0.75 to 1 inch for bentgrass lawns; 1.5 to 2.5 inches for bluegrasses, fine fescues, and ryegrasses.
• Spray with Orthene to control adult root weevils in rhododendrons, azaleas, primroses, and other ornamentals. Or, use beneficial nematodes if soil temperature is above 55°F.
• Remove seed pods after blooms have dropped from rhododendrons, azaleas.
• Prune lilacs, forsythia, rhododendrons, and azaleas after blooming.
• Fertilize vegetable garden 1 month after plants emerge by side dressing-alongside the rows.
• Harvest thinnings from new plantings of lettuce, onion, and chard.
• Construct trellises for tomatoes, cucumbers, pole beans, and vining ornamentals.
• Use organic mulches to conserve soil moisture. An inch or two of sawdust, barkdust, or composted leaves will minimize loss of water through evaporation.
• Pick ripe strawberries regularly to avoid fruit-rotting diseases.
• Blossoms on squash and cucumbers begin to drop: nothing to worry about.
• Control garden weeds by pulling, hoeing, or mulching.
• Control aphids on vegetables as needed by hosing off with water or by using insecticidal soap or a registered insecticide.
• Watch for cabbage worms, 12-spotted beetles on beans and lettuce, flea beetles in lettuce. Remove the insect pests or treat with labeled pesticides.
• Spray peas as first pods form, if necessary, to control weevils.
• After normal fruit drop in June, consider thinning the remainder to produce a larger crop of fruit.
• Late this month, begin to monitor for late blight on tomatoes.
• Birch trees dripping means aphids are present. Control as needed.
• If indicated, spray cherries at weekly intervals for fruit fly.
• Last week: second spray for codling moth and scab in apple and pear trees.
• Move houseplants outside for cleaning, grooming, repotting, and summer growth.
• Make sure raised beds receive enough water for plants to stay free of drought stress.
• Oregon coast: plant cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage, kale.
• Western Oregon: plant sweet corn, other tender vegetables.
• Western Oregon: apply fertilizer to lawns.

All recommendations in this calendar are not necessarily applicable to all areas of Oregon. For more information, contact your local office of the OSU Extension Service.

Oregon State University Extension Service encourages sustainable gardening practices. Always identify and monitor problems before acting. First consider cultural controls; then physical, biological, and chemical controls (which include insecticidal soaps, horticultural oils, botanical insecticides, organic and synthetic pesticides). Always consider the least toxic approach first.

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