TIME TO HARVEST CROPS.

SANTA CLARITA - Gardening in these late summer days in Santa Clarita can be a challenge.

The landscape is dry and parched and water bills for the garden escalate. Although it may be hot, you can still spend a little time mulching, composting, weeding and deadheading, preferably in the early morning or later evening when the temperatures are pleasant.

You can even do a little planting, provided you water the new arrivals well and give them a little extra shade for the first few days.

If you have a vegetable garden, September can be a time of abundance. Summer vegetables are at the height of productivity now. Keep them well-watered and fed. Tomatoes need less frequent but deeper waterings than beans. Picking vegetables keeps them cropping in an effort to replace lost materials.

Allowing a few zucchinis to grow into baseball bats (something they can do astoundingly fast) will quickly drain the plant of the energy it needs to produce more. Staking flopping plants not only keeps the fruit and vegetables clean, but it reduces the damage done by crawling insects.

Due to the moisture we had this spring, there have been a lot of diseases and pests this summer. I've seen scorched-looking branches on plants in the pear family from fire blight, and excessive numbers of cucumber beetles have transported the disfiguring disease of mosaic to squashes.

With the heat, many tomatoes and ornamentals have been victims of grasshoppers and spider mite. If the leaves look bleached with lots of tiny white dots, it's usually due to the damage of tiny spiders on the underside of the leaves. There is no cure for fire blight other than pruning, nor is there a cure for mosaic other than planting resistant varieties.

Do not compost plants that suffer from these infections. For spider mite, hosing the leaves frequently helps wash them off and insecticidal soaps can also help. There are specific poisons for spider mites you can use on ornamentals. Since mites are arachnids, not insects, many insecticides are not effective. Avoid using mitacides on edibles.

Speaking of edible crops, fruit tree growers should think twice before blaming neighbors or hired gardeners if the fruit mysteriously vanishes all at once.

I've heard of angry owners lambasting others for stealing their crops, and last year I was tempted to do the same. But believe it or not, our wildlife is remarkably efficient at denuding fruit trees with astonishing speed.

Squirrels can strip a peach or apricot tree of hundreds of fruits in a single night. Raccoons are adept at climbing trees for a ripe tidbit or 12. Last month, I watched coyotes having a wonderful time playing with my hillside apples plucked from my trees. So, be cautioned: We humans aren't the only ones who love the produce we grow here in Santa Clarita.