Do not feed deciduous fruit trees now. It's difficult enough for us to get our fruit trees into dormancy in this area without stimulating growth so late in the season.

Be sure to prune unwanted sprouts, those tall shoots that grow in summer straight up from the trunk and branches in the centers of mature deciduous fruit trees. Their growth is so sudden and rapid they soon look like buggy whips. Spot this growth as it begins and cut it out flush with the bark. A tree in which water sprouts have been allowed to persist and take over is a terrible mess. They eventually thicken and bear branches just like miniature trees within a tree, taking energy from the parent and ruining its shape. Some deciduous fruit trees also send up suckers from the base of the trunk and from roots. Cut these off now too, so they don't sap the strength of the tree.

Remember to water these trees infrequently. Water deeply and infrequently to encourage deep rooting, but don't subject your trees to absolute drought unless it's unavoidable. A good rule of thumb: mature deciduous fruit trees growing in hot interior valleys need two or three deep irrigations per month throughout the growing season in order to grow well and bear good fruit. Full-grown trees along the coast should be watered deeply once or twice a month. Trees in sandy soil need more water. Young trees require more frequent water to get established.

This is the time to train fruit tree espaliers. Throughout the growing season train the whippy new growth that you want to save into the shape you want, but firmly into place. While the branches are still flexible try tying bamboo poles onto them to train them in straight lines. This system can be especially helpful if you're training your espalier onto a wire framework, because wire bends but bamboo is rigid. Remove the poles when the wood has hardened. Cut off unwanted water sprouts, flush with the bark, from espaliered trees too, now.

On trees that bear on spurs, such as apples, apricots, and pears, cut new growth back to two or three buds to stimulate production of fruiting spurs. (Apricots aren't ideal to espalier. After several years, when their old wood no longer bears as well as formerly, retain some well-placed fresh growth to replace it. Then during winter dormancy cut out the old wood; start training the new growth to take its place.)

Gardeners who want to grow their own transplants of winter flowers, particularly tall rather than dwarf varieties or single colors rather than mixed, should plant seeds of cool-season flowers now. Plant in flats, small pots, or peat pots. If you can't find the seeds you want locally, use seed catalogues. A few varieties may be sold out, but most are available and delivery service is quite fast.

Seeds of such flowers as pansies, cineraria, dianthus, delphiniums, violas, nemesia, Iceland poppies, primroses, snapdragons, stock, and calendulas, planted in August, can give a great number or transplants with which to fill beds in October. Tall varieties of stock are particularly worthwhile growing from seeds, since you can be assured of disease-free transplants. (Stock is susceptible to stem and root rots so don't plant them in the same place two years in a row.)

To grow stock be sure to disinfect flats and fill them with sterilized potting soil. We recommend you use Gardner & Bloome Seed Starting Mix. Place the seeds on top of the soil, carefully spacing them where you want them; press them down gently. (Stock needs light to germinate.) Keep them moist and in semishade. Cover the flats with plastic until the seeds germinate. Then take off the plastic, be careful to protect the sprouts with netting, and move the flats in stages - over a period of two or three weeks - into increasing light, eventually into full sun. Start to feed the plants lightly when each has two real leaves. (Read seed catalogues closely; some varieties have more doubles and fewer singles than others. Weaker-looking seedlings with greener foliage are usually singles; healthier-looking, more grayish ones are doubles.) The sooner you get stock in the ground the better, because early planting enables the plants to build big, strong root systems and hefty stalks. You'll have a long-lasting and dramatic display.

By Tamara Galbraith

Want a quick and easy method of repotting your container plants...that doesn't even require a new pot? It's a technique I call "lifting," simply because that's all it entails.

Over time, potting soil tends to break down in containers, causing the plant's rootball to shrink and sink. In many cases, all you have to do to revive it is to remove the plant and soil, add some new potting soil, such as Kellogg Potting Soil, and a little compost in the bottom of the pot, tease the plant roots gently and put the plant back into the same pot. Add soil around the edges as necessary.

Because most containers angle outward toward the top, the act of "lifting" gives your plant more space all around its perimeter. Of course, if you pull the plant out and there are roots circling the bottom and packed in quite tight, it's time not just for repotting, but for a bigger pot. Don't go too much bigger, though; just go to the next size up, not from little to huge.

Be sure to leave about an inch of space between the top of the plant's root ball and the top of the pot's rim when potting up, however, so that water sinks in during irrigation instead of just running off and over the top, taking the soil with it.

By Tamara Galbraith

The peach tree borer (Synanthedon exitiosa) can be a major pain for both professional fruit growers or home gardeners. And these pests are not picky or limited in their tastes; peach tree borers will go after any fruit with a stone, namely cherry, plum, prune, nectarine, and apricot.

Borers chew on the inner bark of trees, but overwinter as larvae under the soil at the base of the host tree. The larvae pupate in the trunk of the tree, and usually begin to emerge as adults in June.

Adult emergence and egg-laying takes place from June through September, peaking during August. The adult peach tree borer is a clearwing moth, steel blue with yellow or orange markings. The moths are day fliers and can easily be mistaken for wasps.

While some growers use latex paint on the trunk of the tree, that's not the most environmentally-friendly method. Instead, use the liquid bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) to control the larvae before they have entered the trunk. Spray the trunk and the soil around the tree weekly from late July through August for the most effective treatment.