June
June is an interesting month with the winter’s shortest day occurring on or about 21 June, yet June is not generally the coldest month. This is an excellent time to reorgane, rationalise and renew gardens and plantings.
Take some time to do some winter reading and sit down with catalogs and gardening books to plan new plantings.
The Ornamental Garden
Edible Garden
Fruit
The Indoor Garden
Take some time to do some winter reading and sit down with catalogs and gardening books to plan new plantings.
The Ornamental Garden
- Lift perennials, divide and replant only the vigorous outer shoots
- Prune roses, hydrangeas and shrubs
- Propagate plants from hardwood cuttings.
- Plant new plants – make sure the hole is wide enough and it is deep enough to create good drainage.
- Plant out pansies and violas.
- Place sand or dry mulch over the top of tender deciduous perennials to stop them rotting in winter and to mark their place in the garden.
- Prune wisteria – the long growths are pruned back to within 2-3 buds of the main stem. This will help them produce flowering spurs.
- Shift plants to new locations in the garden.
- Protect frost sensitive perennials with pea straw if necessary.
Edible Garden
- Lift, split and replant rhubarb with lots of compost.
- Plan crop rotations for your garden.
- Sow broad beans in well prepared ground.
- Sow onions for next years crop
- Plant garlic now.
- Continue to plant small quantities of cabbage, cauliflower, shallots and leeks.
- Protect broccoli curds by breaking their leaves and bending them over the curds.
- Prepare seed potatoes for sprouting prior to planting.
- Dig in green crops when they reach 150 mm high.
- Add a little lime to the soil.
Fruit
- Plant strawberries on ridges covered with polythene film.
- Prune fruit trees, apples, pears, nectarines
- Prune fruit bushes - currents, gooseberries raspberries, boysenberries and loganberries etc
- After pruning spray with all seasons spraying oil to control a large range of pests and diseases. It is environmentally friendly.
- Prepare ground for new fruit trees.
The Indoor Garden
- Shift pot plants away from windows to reduce the chance of them being frosted through the glass on cold nights.
- Home heating and dehumidifiers dry out the atmosphere and reduces humidity so watch plants carefully and water when dry.
- Cyclamen prefer cooler conditions for best foliage and flowering in winter, do not keep them in a hot place.