I will not bag apples this year. It didn’t help and a lot of them were worse.
I will put out yellow jacket traps starting in March. Last year I did not. They destroyed about 99% of my breba fig crop and about 75% of my main fig crop. I was very discouraged. I had an exterminator remove the only nest I could find but there had to be others. I trapped thousands and by late summer / early fall their numbers were much less. Now, I want to get them while it’s early and maybe get most of the queens. An interesting side note, I’ve caught 5 queens inside my house this winter, They are very sluggish. I can’t find their entrance location. Must be somewhere inside the walls, or in the firewood. Maybe put a trap in the kitchen, just in case!
The garden beds most distant from my well faucet will be dry tolerant plants now - annual flowers (zinnias, marigolds, cosmos, wildflower mix), irises, and potatoes (done before watering needs ramp up). Physically I can’t haul around the hoses so much. Also, I already tore out half of my raised beds, so now I can cut grass between them, using riding mower. Future fruit tree spacing and pruning will also allow riding mower.
Maybe get some cheap hoses to lay out all summer long so I dont have to haul them as much. Our grass goes dormant when rains stop, so there isnt much mowing after that until rains begin.
Grow hot peppers in containers instead of raised bed, so critters dont eat the roots.
See which fruit trees are tall enough that I can de-cage them. For most, that means no leaves below 6 feet. Maintenance is easier with no cage. Conversely, anything new gets a deer / rabbit cage and vole screening immediately on planting.
I’m enlarging a kitchen garden bed, to make up for the ones I’m losing due to watering issue (and an easement I feel uneasy about there). That will be fenced. One end may get the start of a trellis for a sunnier blackberry location. I also planted garlic, and will grow onions, in an entirely fenced in bed this year. Finally, I got the message. My deer and rabbits are gourmets. I should not plant what I am not prepared to protect.
A lot of this is really two issues - water and herbivores. It’s an ongoing lesson.