If you are working in the garden this week, here are a few things to consider. Crabgrass is now germinating and growing. If you have a lot of this grass, use a post-emergent crabgrass killer as long as the plants are under a couple of inches in diameter. This grass shows up as a light green low-growing plant growing in areas with numerous plants.

Ants on peony plants do not hurt the plants. They are eating the sap from the flowers and will go away after the plant has done blooming. If you have young apple trees or trees with apples on them, now is the time to spray apple scab (a fungus coming from juniper trees) is now with an all-purpose orchard spray. If you have some good-looking plums, the plum curculio is out eating holes in the fruit. You can use a pyrethrum or malathion spray.

Some people have early blossoms on summer squash (and soon with cucumbers) that do not set any fruit. For most vine crops the first flowers are male and will not set but later on, the female flowers come out and the plant will start producing. For little squash fruit rotting before getting big is caused by inadequate fertilization and they will grow out of this condition. I remove fruit if the plant is little thereby giving more energy to the parent plant’s growth.

If you have time, remove the spent lilac blossoms, they will produce more flowers next year. If any trees or shrubs have dead canes or limbs, remove them. Do not use any paint or black tar on the wound for this causes rot and decay because the air can not dry the area out.

Many use eggshells or tums around tomato plants to prevent blossom end rot on tomatoes or peppers. I found placing the plants in a mulch (plastic or organic) keeps the soil evenly moist and cool will help. Some varieties of tomatoes are more prone to this condition than others like early girl and the smaller cherry tomatoes. Epsom salts used heavily can harm the soil because it is a type of salt.