If you haven't already done so, make sure to protect your fruit trees from pests and disease by applying a dormant spray to them. Most fruit trees should be sprayed at least twice--once in January when they are fully dormant and once again at bud swell.

It's helpful to combine a dormant oil spray with a fungicide like Monterey Liqui Cop at the same time so you only have to spray once. This important spraying will help prevent fungus diseases such as dead bud and peach-leaf curl, in addition to knocking out any overwintering insects or insect eggs.

Since different varieties of fruit trees bloom at different times, it's important to make sure you apply your spray at the proper time for maximum effectiveness. Our staff of garden experts will be happy to guide and advise you with all your spray applications.

One of the biggest weed concerns most homeowners have for their lawns is crabgrass. This nasty clumping weed can make a mess out of a lawn in no time, leaving unsightly dead patches when it dies off the following winter. The good news is that there is plenty of time to prevent next year's crabgrass from taking root in your lawn.

On of the keys to preventing crabgrass is understanding how it grows. This in turn will help you decide which cultural and chemical control options to use against it. Crabgrass is a warm-season annual grass that dies off every winter. It can only reappear the following year from germinating seeds that were created before the mother plants died.

Crabgrass will not start germinating until soil temperatures consistently reach and stay at 60 degrees. This can be as early as late January in Southern California and as late as the end of May in the Northeast. (In a few very warm areas like South Florida and Hawaii, it can germinate year-round.)

Crabgrass prefers full sun, lots of moisture, and thin lawns that allow light to hit the soil. The thicker and more vigorous your lawn is, the less of a favorable environment you provide for the crabgrass. This means you also need to keep your mowing height higher. If you keep your mower height between 2-3 inches, there will be fewer crabgrass plants in your lawn. Also, avoid frequent lawn watering. As temperatures rise, water deeper but less often.

Most pre-emergent crabgrass herbicides are available in combination with lawn fertilizers, so crabgrass prevention and spring fertilization can be done at the same time. This needs to be applied before the crabgrass germinates in early spring. (See temperatures and dates above.) We recommend using Master Nursery Easy Livin' Pre-Emergent Weed Preventer and Lawn Food. If temperatures are unseasonably warm, you might have to apply this product earlier.

For organic gardening, we recommend Concern 100% Corn Gluten. This is safe to use around pets and kids. This product maybe used on lawns, and around established planter beds to prevent a wide variety of weeds.

Most important with any weed prevention is timing. Also, remember that the pre-emergent creates a barrier on the soil to prevent the weeds from coming up. If this barrier gets disturbed by cultivation, then weed seeds may germinate. Remember: It's easier to prevent these nasty weeds then to control them once they come up.

Outside of the easily-identified blueberries and strawberries, the world of berries can be very confusing. You have blackberries, black raspberries, red raspberries, and yellow raspberries. And don't forget boysenberries, loganberries and marionberries, which are all closely related. How do you tell them apart? Berries whose core stays intact are blackberries. Berries that lose the core and resemble a thimble are raspberries. But then...a few berries are a cross between the two!

The similarities don't stop there. All bear fruit on two-year-old wood, except for the ever-bearing raspberries that also fruit on first year growth. These are also called two crop raspberries because they bear a late summer or fall crop on the first year growth and a second crop the following spring on the two-year-old wood.

Different types of wood? What's that all about? Ok, it may help clear up a lot of confusion about blackberry and raspberry culture if one remembers that after flowering and fruiting, any cane that bore fruit dies back to the crown. All the new growth will rise out from primary buds just below the soil line.

Now here's the good news, blackberries, raspberries and any other favorites will thrive in most locations and soil types, but good drainage is desirable with most varieties. Just give them some room to ramble because they do like to spread out. As far as cold-hardiness goes, raspberries tolerate very cold temperatures better than blackberries.

Most berries like being fed at blooming time, with a follow-up feeding in early fall after the plants have finished fruiting. Just use a well-balanced fruit food such as Dr. Earth Organic 9 Fruit Tree Fertilizer. They prefer staying moist, and should be watered regularly if rainfall is insufficient.

The new canes that grow out each spring will not bear fruit until the following summer when they are two years old. After harvest, the two-year-old fruiting canes will start to die back and should be removed as close to the ground as possible without injuring the new canes.

In mild climates berries can be trained to stakes or trellises in late summer or early fall, after the fruiting canes have been removed. In colder climates, the canes should be left on the ground over winter--making them less likely to be damaged by cold. The ideal time to "spring train" is after the danger of freezing weather and before the leaf buds begin expanding.

We have berry plants that grow well in our local area. The bottom line is that all berries are easy to grow and they taste great. So don't stress about all your different choices. Just plant some berries and enjoy!

How should you prune a Japanese maple?

Answer:

Japanese maples can be lightly tip-pruned during the summer months to control new growth or runaway water shoots, but save the major pruning for December or January, when the tree is fully dormant. Do not prune later than February (or when the leaf buds start swelling), because the tree can bleed quite severely and become weakened.

All Japanese maples have "eyes" on the branches, where the leaves were attached during the growing season. These "eyes" are small half moon swellings, spaced every 1-3" along the branches. Each "eye" faces a different direction, rotating along the branches.

Pruning 1/4" above a particular eye will make the tree branch out in that direction the following year. You can control the shape and direction of the tree each year simply by deciding which eyes to prune above.

Avoid pruning beyond the previous year's cuts. Always allow at least 2 "eyes" of new growth each year to remain on the tree. Pruning more severely can lead to knurled and stunted growth, with many tiny shoots coming out from the same spot. If a large branch needs to be pruned to thin out the tree and allow more light, prune it completely off. Make sure to seal all cuts larger than 1/2" in diameter with a pruning sealer like Bonide Tree Seal.