Summer Gardening Suggestions for June
Summer Gardening Suggestions for June: June is the first month of summer, and June 21 is the longest day of the year. Longer, brighter days will help our already blossoming parks and gardens, so your plants and trees will grow quickly this month.
Weeding, planting bedding plants, and controlling the parched garden are all gardening tasks in June.
We’ve compiled a list of tasks to add to your garden checklist this month to maintain your garden in top shape.
Harvest peas, broad beans, early potatoes, and strawberries.
Early peas (such as sweet peas), early potatoes, and broad beans should be ready to harvest this month. And when it comes to peas, the first harvest is always the best!
The new potatoes must be dug out; but, because they are smaller, they can be left in the ground for a larger crop. They should not, however, be kept in the ground for more than two or three weeks after harvesting or they will spoil.
To avoid damaging the stem, pick puff beans at the plant’s base using a gentle twisting motion.
Strawberries are typically tasty and ripe this time of year. Strawberries, which were formerly harvested in June, can now be picked throughout the summer.
If you have grown gooseberries, now is the time to gather the unripe gooseberries for baking or making sauces and preserves. Ripe gooseberries are available throughout July.
Fruit tree pruning
Fruit tree thinning (or removing excess fruit) can improve fruit size and quality. Fruit trees that are planted too close together struggle for space and often shrink (possibly less tasty).
Fruit thinning is typically done on heavy fruit including apples, pears, plums, peaches, and nectarines.
Apples, for example, should have one fruit per cluster and be spaced 15-23 cm apart.
Pruning pears should result in two fruits per cluster, spaced 10-15 cm apart.
Plant peaches 10 cm apart for hazelnut-sized peaches and 20-25 cm apart for walnut-sized peaches.
Other fruit trees thinning suggestions and ideas (including nectarines, plums, and apricots) include:
Water your plants regularly.
Because soil dries out quickly when temperatures rise in June (especially in pots and containers), it’s vital to water plants on a regular basis.
Once a day is frequently enough. If the soil dries out quickly, you may want to water it twice a day.
Water your plants early in the morning and late in the evening rather than during the hottest part of the day. Watering plants when it is cooler allows them to absorb more water and keeps it from evaporating before it can permeate the soil. For at least 20 seconds, thoroughly water the plants.
Don’t be afraid if your lawn appears to be dry; the turf is strong and returns quickly when it rains. However, it is important not to overwork a dry lawn because bare patches can emerge quickly!
Pricking tomato plants
Tall, upright growth can be encouraged by “pricking out” juvenile tomato plants when they are four to six inches tall.
Pruning out is the removal of small shoots that form at a 45-degree angle between the main stem and the plant’s branches.
On a dry day, weeding
This month, keep an eye out for pesky weeds as they compete for space and light with your plants. To reduce the likelihood of weeds returning, hoe them out on dry days so they can dry up and die.
Even though the soil looks to be weed-free, hoeing will harm early seedlings that have not yet sprouted above ground.
More hoeing tips can be found in Gardeners’ World magazine.
Putting in bedding plants
Bedding plants grow quickly and can be put on a colorful display. You can plant them in pots or beds outside now that the fear of frost has passed.
Summer bedding plants such as petunias, cosmos, and fuscias can be purchased on the Crocus website* or at a local garden center.
You can improve the quality of your summer bedding flowers by following these steps:
Plant them in high-quality compost. Multipurpose compost is a nice option and is available on Amazon*.
I fertilize once a week. For the best results, use a potassium-rich fertilizer, such as tomato fertilizer*.
Slug-resistant bedding plants like snapdragons, begonias, and geraniums should be safeguarded. If your garden is prone to slugs, avoid marigolds because they adore slugs!
Remove petals on a daily basis to keep plants blooming throughout summer.
Instead of growing bedding plants in your garden, try sowing flower seeds. Plant calendula*, iberis* (sugarloaf), and clarkia* for a late-summer color explosion.
Pak choi, broccoli, and spring onions should be planted.
In June, Pak Choi* can be sown directly into the ground and harvested in as little as 30 days. The phrase “cut-and-come-again” refers to the fact that after being cut, the outer leaves regenerate, allowing for continuous harvesting. Because this leafy plant is hardier than many other vegetables, late sowings can produce all winter if protected from frost.
Planting spring onions* now will provide you with fresh yields into the fall. Because they root shallowly and take up little space, they’re also great for growing on a windowsill. Another lettuce plant that can be planted this month is beet.
In the fall and winter, broccoli* (late sprouting varieties such as Calabrese) will be available for harvest. For the best results, avoid sowing seeds in extremely exposed areas where they are more prone to windthrow.
See what else you can sow this month, such as pole beans and rutabagas, according to Royal Paddocks Allotments.
Wilting plants should be staked.
Prop up plants (such as sunflowers) that will grow tall or have heavy flowers or fruit hanging from their branches this month if you haven’t already.
Staking is the process of burying support and tying down the plant’s trunk or branches in order to keep it upright. This can prevent plants and young trees from snapping or growing in an undesirable direction (for example, to the side rather than up!).
Bamboo stakes* are appropriate for plants with a single trunk. The pole should be roughly two-thirds the height you want the plant to reach later. Trees, shrubs, and roses may require larger wooden stakes* to maintain their weight and offer the necessary support.
For more information about staking plants, visit this BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine article.
Plants that bloom early should be trimmed.
Pruning shrubs that bloom in the spring or early summer this month may stimulate vigorous, healthy new growth and gorgeous flowers the following year. Early-blooming shrubs include colkwitzia, weigela, deutzia, and philadelphus.
Early-blooming shrubs produce blooms on the previous year’s growth. If you prune them (and remove old blooms) this month, you’ll have enough time to establish new items that will grow during the summer and fall and produce fresh flowers the next year.
Incorporate blooming plants into your vegetable garden.
Flowering plants are widely used in vegetable gardens by professional gardeners to increase yields and produce healthier plants. Many other gardeners, though, can profit from this practice as well. The principal benefit of including flowering plants around the perimeter of your food garden is that they attract insects that pollinate the plants. They also look great as a decorative accent.
There are a few things to think about before combining flowers and veggies to ensure they are beneficial rather than damaging. Consider the height of the flowers you plant, as well as their ability to compete for sunlight with the vegetables. Certain plants, such as cabbage, prefer a little shade, depending on the needs of your garden.
Give the greenhouses some shade.
Greenhouses are designed to keep plants warm, but if temperatures rise too high (usually above 27°C), the plants may suffer damage. As a result, during the hottest months of the year, make sure your greenhouse gets some shade.
One of the most basic approaches is to apply shade paint on the glass panes; this can be applied in layers to provide more shade and then taken off as the temperature drops. Other methods for keeping your greenhouse cool include appropriate ventilation and steaming the interior to increase humidity, as plants tolerate heat better when humidity levels are higher.
