Find help online for pest control

What’s bugging your garden? Rapid June growth often attracts a wide range of creepy crawlers (and slimy slugs). Get help identifying your unwanted pests – and figuring out what to do about them – via the University of California’s Integrated Pest Management website, ipm.ucdavis.edu.

Be pesticide-smart before you spray, too. Check out www.applyresponsibly.org. On that site, you’ll find tips about pesticide use, storage and disposal. Don’t use pesticides or fungicides past their expiration date; their chemical mix may change over time and cause more harm to your plants – and you – than the pests.

No. 1: Always read the entire label first, then follow directions. (And don’t spray on a hot and/or windy day.)

▪  Mulch, mulch, mulch. As the weather warms, mulching helps conserve water while keeping your plants’ roots cool and moist. When applying mulch, leave a circle around trunks or main stems to avoid crown rot.

▪  Tie up vines and stake tall plants such as gladiolus and lilies. That gives their heavy flowers some support.

▪  In the vegetable garden, transplant seedlings for tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and squash. Look for varieties that mature in 75 days or less.

▪  From seed, plant corn, pumpkins, radishes, squash and sunflowers.

▪  Add some summer color. Transplant petunias, marigolds and perennial flowers such as astilbe, columbine, coneflowers, coreopsis, dahlias, rudbeckia and verbena. Plant seeds for sunflowers, asters, cosmos, salvia and zinnias.

▪  Water early in the day – preferably before 8 a.m. – when there’s less evaporation.

This story was originally published June 3, 2016 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Find help online for pest control."