Education and Events

• If you have plants that you suspect may be facing a pest or disease problem, bring or send in your sample to the UConn Home & Garden Education Center or your local UConn Cooperative Extension office to diagnose the problem and recommend the appropriate control.
• Contact your local garden club for a list of upcoming programs or sign up for a workshop, lecture, or course at your local garden center or through the UConn Master Gardener Program.
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Houseplants

• You can move houseplants outside to the deck or patio and enjoy them outdoors for the summer. It is best to gradually introduce them to more direct sunlight to prevent the leaves from being burned.
• Be aware that container plants will need more water during hot and windy weather.
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In the Vegetable Garden

• If Tomato plants are leggy, plant deep and they will root along the buried stems.
• Stake or cage tomatoes and spray them if necessary to prevent disease problems.
• Check for small holes that signal flea beetle damage on tomatoes, eggplants and peppers.
• Call the UConn Home & Garden Education Center (877) 486-6271 or email us at ladybug@uconn.edu  if you suspect tomato disease problems.
• There is still time to sow seeds of beans, beets, carrots, cucumbers, and summer squash.
• Plant seeds of bush beans every three weeks for a continuous harvest.
• For the sweetest pea harvest, pick regularly before pods become over-mature and peas become starchy.  
• If you must overhead water do so early enough in the day to allow the foliage to dry before nightfall to minimize diseases.
• Plant vegetables or flowers in unadorned pots or decorative jardinieres and grow them on decks or patios if space is limited.
• Harvest early season vegetables including lettuce, radishes and peas when they are at their peak.
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Insects

• Heavy rains encourage slug problems. Check for slugs during rainy periods and hand pick the pests.
• Scout for lace bugs and aphids. Spray with water or use a low-toxicity insecticide to control them.
• Check for small holes that signal flea beetle damage on tomatoes, eggplants and peppers.
• Check apple, cherry, and other fruit trees for nests of Eastern tent caterpillars. Blast low-lying nests with water to destroy them, or knock them to the ground and destroy them. A spray of Bacillus thuringiensis on the foliage will kill emerging caterpillars after they consume it but is not toxic to beneficial insects, birds, or humans.
• Apply grub control after June 15th if grub damage is noticed or was a problem last year. 
• Scout for black vine weevil adults feeding on azalea and rhododendron foliage and use a foliar insecticide.
• June bugs, can be annoying as they bounce on your window screens attracted by your house lights. The larvae do eat plant roots and the adult beetles forage on trees and shrubs although they do not seem to cause the excessive damage associated with Oriental beetles or Japanese beetles.
• Mosquitoes breed in standing water. To discourage them, change the water in bird baths and outdoor pet dishes every few days.
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Landscape and Lawns

• Heavy rains encourage slug problems. Check for slugs during rainy periods and hand pick the pests.
• Scout for lace bugs and aphids. Spray with water or use a low-toxicity insecticide to control them.
• Check for small holes that signal flea beetle damage on tomatoes, eggplants and peppers.
• Check apple, cherry, and other fruit trees for nests of Eastern tent caterpillars. Blast low-lying nests with water to destroy them, or knock them to the ground and destroy them. A spray of Bacillus thuringiensis on the foliage will kill emerging caterpillars after they consume it but is not toxic to beneficial insects, birds, or humans.
• Apply grub control after June 15th if grub damage is noticed or was a problem last year.
• Scout for black vine weevil adults feeding on azalea and rhododendron foliage and use a foliar insecticide.
• June bugs, can be annoying as they bounce on your window screens attracted by your house lights. The larvae do eat plant roots and the adult beetles forage on trees and shrubs although they do not seem to cause the excessive damage associated with Oriental beetles or Japanese beetles.
• Mosquitoes breed in standing water. To discourage them, change the water in bird baths and outdoor pet dishes every few days.

Landscape and Lawns

Fruits

• Check apple, cherry, and other fruit trees for nests of Eastern tent caterpillars. Blast low-lying nests with water to destroy them, or knock them to the ground and destroy them. A spray of Bacillus thuringiensis on the foliage will kill emerging caterpillars after they consume it but is not toxic to beneficial insects, birds, or humans.
• It's a great time to plant strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries.
• Harvest early season fruits such as strawberries when they are at their peak.

Lawns

• Keep mower blades sharp and set your mower height at 2-3 inches.
• Mow lawns often enough to remove no more than one-third the total height per mowing. There is no need to remove clippings unless excessive or diseased.
• Grass can quickly invade gardens and landscape plantings and is best deterred with a good quality edging that is properly installed.
• Leave grass clippings on the lawn to improve availability of nitrogen.
• Apply grub control after June 15th if necessary.

Trees and Shrubs

• Scout for black vine weevil adults feeding on azalea and rhododendron foliage and use a foliar insecticide.
• Overgrown, multi-stemmed shrubs like spirea, lilac, and forsythia, can be renovated by removing 1/3 of stems down to ground level each year for 3 years, allowing some new young growth to replace these older stems.
• When deadheading rhododendrons, avoid breaking off the leaf buds which are just below flowers. Carefully twist off spent blooms.
• Gator bags provide a great way to keep trees watered during hot and dry months. These bags, which can hold up to 20 gallons of water, are secured to the trunk of the tree, where they release the water slowly to the root ball over the course of 15 to 20 hours.
• June bugs can be annoying as they bounce on your window screens attracted by your house lights. The larvae do eat plant roots and the adult beetles forage on trees and shrubs although they do not seem to cause the excessive damage associated with Oriental beetles or Japanese beetles.
• Watch for and control blackspot and powdery mildew on rose foliage.
• This is a good time to take cuttings of trees and shrubs, such as chokeberry, butterfly bush, spirea, serviceberry, hydrangea, dogwood, and magnolia, to root for new plantings.

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Wildlife

• Continue to use deer and woodchuck controls where necessary.
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