Gardening Tips for June

Jun 1, 2020

June is a month of light, with the longest day on the 21st. This gives us a month of fast growth in the garden and plenty of jobs to be getting on with, says gardening expert Andy Colquhoun.

Plant out your veg

June is pretty much a safe month to plant out the remaining veg; peas, beans, rocket, carrots, including tender crops such as cucumbers, tomatoes, courgettes and squashes. Remember plants that have been seeded together or planted together, will produce fruit together at the same time, normally known as a glut. To avoid this, it’s best to sow and plant on a regular basis, every two weeks or so, but make sure to check the last sow dates on the packets of your seeds. Being in the south, we may get away with a little longer.

Add flowers to your walls

While taking your daily exercise you’ll see lovely stone walls with an abundance of flowers crawling across them. From erigeron, thyme, marjoram, aubretia, dianthus, chamomile and a host of others. A great tip if you want to add flowers to your walls is to remove the weeds first, either by hand or use weed killer (environmentally friendly), and add a little compost in the cracks. Now for the fun part. Take a biro pen, remove the ink cartridge and use the outer plastic tubing as a blowpipe. Then just add seeds and use as a blow dart into the cracks. Add a little bit of compost if possible. Great fun for the kids during lockdown.

Water, deadhead and weed

It is now safe to move pots and other containers outside as there is little or no danger from frosts. Make sure hanging baskets don’t dry out, keeping them moist but not too soggy. Deadhead flowers regularly to prevent the plants going to seed, rather than continuing to flower.

The garden in June tends to burst into life and unfortunately this means weeds will thrive and appear everywhere and in all kinds of places. The best way to deal with weeds is to keep on top of them, hoeing regularly when conditions are dry and there is a light wind. The seeds will dry out on the surface of the soil rather than rooting into moist soil. Head out once a week and hoe the area to avoid days of back breaking work.

Some veg to sow in June: artichoke, beetroot, calabrese, carrot, celeriac, celery, courgette, french beans, tomato, lettuce, marrow, pak choi, peas, pumpkin, radish, runner beans, salad leaves, summer cauliflower, sweetcorn, sweet pepper, turnip, white brassicas.