There are always things to do in your gardens throughout the year, big or small; you can always be tending to your garden. One of the pleasures of gardening is that it isn’t just a seasonal hobby and it can be enjoyed all year whether sun or rain. We have put together a guide for you detailing garden jobs for June so you can get the most out of your garden.
Night frosts should have now disappeared so all bedding plants can be planted out into borders or containers. Before planting, lightly fork over borders and then prepare the soil – adding Fish Blood & Bone fertiliser. Next always make sure the root ball is nicely moist and then water in again after planting, so the plants establish quicker. When planting containers with multipurpose compost, add some ‘Chempak Year Long Feed’ to the compost, so the plants are fed throughout the season.
Jobs for the flower garden
Plant up containers, hanging baskets and planters now the risk of frost has passed. If you have them growing on in a greenhouse move them outside to their final position.- Continue to thin out drifts of hardy annuals if they’re overcrowded.
- It’s not too late to sow seeds of annual plants – for a full list of annuals that you can still sow now see our what to sow and grow page.
- As soon as your sweet peas start to flower, keep picking them to encourage more blooms.
- Cut back bulb foliage as soon as it has died down naturally.
- Prune out overcrowded or dead stems of evergreen Clematis such as Clematis armandii after it has finished flowering to maintain a good shape
Jobs for the vegetable garden
- Continue to earth up potato plants as they grow. If you’re growing potatoes in bags simply add more compost to half way up the plant stem.
- Harvest early potatoes – these are normally ready from 10 weeks after planting.
- There is still time to plant runner beans – sow them directly in the ground now.
- When planting out cabbages, use cabbage collars to prevent cabbage root fly attack.
- Protect crops from carrot fly by covering with horticultural fleece or enviromesh.
Jobs in the fruit garden
- Start to prune your plum or cherry trees now.
- Although fruit trees will naturally shed some fruit (called the ‘June drop’), aim to thin out congested branches further for bigger and better fruits.
- Protect any developing fruits from birds and squirrels by placing netting around your plants.
- If you have plants fruiting in containers, make sure you give them a high potash liquid feed to keep plants healthy and productive.
- Top-dress patio dwarf fruit trees with fresh compost and a slow-release fertiliser.
- Peg down runners on your strawberry plants to create more plants for next year. If you don’t need more plants simply remove the strawberry runners completely.
View our full list of gardening jobs for June
Terri works in the e-commerce marketing department assisting the busy web team. Terri manages our blog and social media pages here at Thompson & Morgan and is dedicated to providing useful advice to our gardeners. Terri is new to gardening and keen to develop her horticultural knowledge.