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June is upon us already! It’s hard to believe six months of the year has already gone!
Spring began wet and then the weather turned dry with blue skies, albeit with cold northerly winds, particularly in the south west! May then was mainly dry with warm temperatures.
A tip then, how long before the talk begins on water shortages and restrictions!!
Let’s talk about things that need our attention in our June garden!
Should the dry weather continue then raise the blade(s) on the lawnmower when cutting, so as not to stress the grass.
Should weeds be causing a problem then you can use a liquid weed killer, but be sure rain is expected the following day. The same is true of using liquid feed.
Your annual flowers should be growing well.
Maybe you have sown hardy annuals direct and they have germinated too well? You will need to thin out some of the seedlings to enable others to grow through to flowering maturity.
You may have grown or purchased tender ‘half-hardy’ annual flowers either as bedding, or for hanging baskets or containers. You will need to ‘harden these off’ against the danger of night time frosts. Place pots out in the sun during the day and bring them in at night, or cover with horticultural fleece.
As your tall perennials begin to grow, stake the flower stems to prevent wind damage!
‘Dead head’roses as the flowers fade to encourage further flowering.
Water sweet peas regularly and remove fading flowers consistently to prolong flowering through the summer.
Wait for the fading foliage of spring bulbs to die back naturally to feed the bulbs for next year’s flowering.
It’s hard to believe that it’s not that many weeks ago that I was sowing early vegetables under really grey skies. It seemed to be one grey day after another and my early tomatoes just did not seem to want to grow!
What a change a few weeks makes. Now I can’t stop things growing and rumours of water shortages abound!
Enough! Let’s take a look at the veg garden for June!
I’m pleased to say that with all the good weather, my vegetable plot is looking pretty good and I will be harvesting my early potatoes before long!
Like your main crops though, keep up with the watering to swell the tubers prior to harvesting.
Harden off tender plants scheduled for outdoor growing, such as tomatoes, squash and sweetcorn.
Pinch out side shoots of greenhouse tomatoes (but leave them intact if you are growing bush varieties.)
You are probably harvesting quick growing salad crops, but remember to re-sow every two weeks for continuous cropping.
Second early and maincrop potatoes will be growing fast now, but it’s important to keep up with your watering to swell the size of the tubers for larger crops.
There is danger of carrot fly damage on your maincrop carrots. The flies bore into the roots and the grubs feed inside – a bad infestation can ruin a crop!
The answer? Cover your crop with horticultural fleece. Problem solved!
Whilst talking about pest problems, if you are planting young cabbage it may be an idea to fit ‘cabbage collars, to deter attack from the cabbage root fly!
If you don’t need extra strawberry runners for this year, remove them from the parent plants to encourage all the energy into fruit production.
Should you have the benefit of a fruit cage, then put the netting on now before your fruit ripens.
Start to prune cherry and plum trees.
Thin out fruit when congested on branches for larger and more nutritious fruit.
Use a slow release fertilizer to give your potted fruit trees a boost through the summer.
‘Dead head’ fading rose flowers regularly to prolong flowering performance and ‘tuck in’ the vigorous shoots of climbing and rambling roses.
Early flowering shrubs like wisteria and lilac will now have finished flowering, so now is the time to prune plants to the shape you require.
Use a slow-release, high potash fertilizer to feed your roses through the summer.
Keep an eye on your garden pond if you have one and check on the health of any fish!
Remove any ‘blanket’ weed using a ‘spring-tine’ rake.
Keep the pond free of algae to keep it oxygenated for the benefit of all the pond life.
As I write this blog for June, as May nears its end, there are the beginnings of concern regarding a water shortage.
So what can we gardeners do to protect our crops?
Increasing your water storage in the garden is one thing. Adding a couple more water butts will help and increase your storage. You would be surprised how quickly a heavy rain shower can fill a water butt!
You can save water by mulching around the base of perennial plants, using garden compost, farm yard manure or even leaf mould. They all improve the water retention properties of your soil.
