Weeds, gophers, herbs, trees and veggies

Tick, tick, tick: It's getting late to plant vegetables for summer harvest so do it now, whether from seeds or containerized starts. That includes melons, squash, cucumber, eggplant, peppers, lima beans, green beans, kidney beans, leaf lettuce, radishes, beets, tomatoes and corn. Planting herbs and flowers such as marigolds can attract beneficial insects that will help keep insect pests under control. Parsley is highly attractive to beneficial insects and may be grown throughout the year. Where your soil is fast-draining, let some of your parsley flower and go to seed. These seeds will drop and germinate a new parsley crop next year. Keep in mind that tomatoes, peppers and parsley are highly amenable to container growing. Basil like crazy: Basil is also appropriate for May planting, whether in the ground or in pots. The most beloved of all herbs, basil is available in a plethora of varieties, both annual and perennial. Annual basil is famously found in mint green and purple colors and with fragrances and flavors ranging from cloves to camphor, from lemon to lime, from cinnamon to licorice. Take note of select basil varieties, such as Pluto and Picolino, with tiny leaves that are perfect container specimens. There are three perennial basil types: clove or tree basil (Ocimum gratissimum), a rangy, tropical shrub growing up to 10feet tall; everleaf Thai towers, reaching 3feet tall with an astonishingly erect growth habit; African blue basil, a cannot-live-without-it, drought-tolerant ornamental with a girth and height of 3 feet that is covered with majestic flower wands in purple or pink, depending on variety, which never stop blooming because the plant is sterile and does not form seeds, so all its reproductive energy is devoted to flower production. While perennial basils can also be used for culinary purposes, African blue basil must be used sparingly due to the strength of its spicy constituent compounds. The seeds of dozens of varieties of basil may be found online through mail order nurseries, and whole plants in pots are widely available at nurseries, home improvement center garden departments and even supermarkets such as Trader Joe's.

Weed control: Weeds are at their peak in May, and you may wish to acquire a scuffle hoe (also called a

The cockspur coral tree has breathtaking scarlet blooms.

hula hoe) to keep them under control. The hoe is a trapezoidal blade that cuts through weeds at ground level and is easily moved around plants. Ideally, scuffle away your weeds when they are tiny, but the hoe works on mature weeds as well. Where weed prevention is concerned, mulch is the best option. Even where you are plagued with pernicious perennial weeds, their control will be eased by the soft soil you will create through a permanent mulching regime; it's easier to pull a weed from soft, amended,and yielding soil than it is to extract it from a hard, unimproved, intractable piece of ground.

Trees for color: Keep your eyes peeled for flowering trees that appeal to you so you can search for them at the nursery or online. Water restrictions mean there will be more emphasis on planting trees, especially ornamental species of moderate stature that may take the place of more water-needy annual and perennial flowers when it comes to color in the garden. I saw one of the most brilliant flowering trees in full bloom the other day outside the Beverly Hills Hotel (at Sunset Boulevard and Crescent Drive). It's known as the cockspur coral tree (Erythrina crista-galli). “Crista” means “crest” and “galli” means “of

Go, go, go away, gophers: Gophers are highly active now, and remedies for keeping them at bay come to mind. Gophers are highly territorial and even though you might see many mounds with their adjacent gopher holes in a fairly large area (up to 1,000square feet), you are probably looking at the work of a single animal. There is evidence suggesting that dogs and cats, especially when several are allowed to roam the yard, provide a significant measure of gopher control. And if you can lay hands on a gopher snake or two, so much the better. Should you decide on traps or bait, you will be obliged to learn the art of locating the main gopher run, which is where the critter invariably is found. The telltale mound you see on the surface is at the end of a lateral run, created for the purpose of routing soil out of the burrow currently being excavated. At the base of this mound is a plug or circular depression, which frequently is visible. Take a stick or metal rod and probe 8-10 inches out from the plug side of the mound. When the rod finds the burrow, it will sink several inches deeper into the soil. Funnel bait through the opening you have made or, if you decide to go with traps, widen the opening and place two traps (of the Macabee brand) in the main run in opposite directions. Attach string between each trap and a stake pounded into the ground above; gophers have been known to pull traps into their burrows, from which they cannot be retrieved. Gophers can also be kept out of small garden areas by exclusion. Enclose the area with half-inch wire mesh that extends 2feet below and 2 feet above ground level.

PHOTO BY JOSHUA SISKIN a rooster” in Latin and refers to the scarlet blooms that vaguely resembles cockscombs. There is no tree that takes your breath away quite like a cockspur coral tree. The only other tree with scarlet blooms is the bottlebrush and, although it can bloom in any season, its ubiquity makes it less imposing than the cockspur coral, which is seldom encountered, perhaps because of its greater sensitivity to cold. The cockspur coral is a leguminous tree and, as such, will always sport lush, green leaves since it manufactures its own nitrate fertilizer with the help of nitrogen-fixing bacteria that live symbiotically in the nodules of its roots.