Aphids are becoming a problem this week. If the plants (vegetables or flowers) are becoming deformed, look underneath the leaf and see if you have tiny green, black, or reddish “bugs”. If so, use Neem oil or insecticide soap to kill them. Be sure you get the undersides of the leaves to rid yourselves of these tiny pests. Sometimes they cause witch’s broom in some shrubs like cotoneaster and honeysuckle, which looks like distorted growth on the tips of the branches. On ornamentals, you can use a systemic insecticide.
If the rains (few and far between) have not killed the little grasshoppers (nymphs), you may have a problem. The small they are the easier they are to kill. In the flowerbed or garden use Seven. Grasshopper baits around the perimeter of these areas help. Keep the weeds and grass around the garden mowed. It gives me great pleasure seeing the mowing and chopping of these insects up!
Cabbage butterflies are out in abundance which will lay eggs on the Cole crops, then the eggs hatch into little green caterpillars which can wipe out the crop. Used Sevin on a schedule to control them. Better yet is a product called Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) which is a biological chemical killing young worms without harm to the environment. I have not found this product around the area, however, it can be ordered through any online garden store. These worms are hard to see being the same color as the vegetable, so most likely you will see the holes and damage first.
Blossom end rot is showing up in tomatoes and peppers as a large leathery brown spot on the bottom of the fruit. The problem is a calcium (and magnesium) tie-up in the soil due to dry and warm conditions. To prevent this use a mulch and keep your watering even.
Another water problem is the cracking of the tomato fruit usually along the top and shoulders. The cause is water going to the fruit faster than the skin can compensate for it. Again, even watering and mulch help. Some varieties are more susceptible to this condition like the cherry tomatoes and varieties like Early Girl with thinner skins. As the summer goes on this condition should decrease unless we get a heavy summer rain.
A few questions about purslane showing up in gardens and flowerbeds. Do not use any herbicides this time of year. Pull and remove it because they will root down again if left in contact with the soil. Better yet, use it as a garnish with any salad you make. They were grown and used as food at one time. You can buy cultivars as blooming plants in the greenhouses in yellows and reds.