Hayley1
07-06-2010, 13:55
June can be a glorious if busy time in the garden. Lawns to be mowed at least once a week, hedges such as privet to be trimmed, but please consider that the birds are still nesting, so avoid if you can.
If you haven't already started, take cuttings of your perennials and there's still time to nip off the shoots from your bedding such as petunia and fuschias. If your kids are taking an interest, why not fill a small glass with water and arrange your fushia cuttings into it. (remember to remove the lower leaves). In a matter of days your kids can see the roots forming on the cutting. Once a good root system is created, simply pot up and grow on.
To make your plants bushier, nip out the tops (using them for your cuttings)
This is a good idea if you're going on holiday as it takes roughly 6 weeks from nipping out to the plants flowering - you need not miss the display.
If you've been hanging on, make up your hanging baskets as the risk of frost should have passed by now.
Support your taller plants. Sometimes if you plant in 'steps' then each plant will support the other, but chances are some of the mosters like delphiniums will need either staking with canes or using something like a ring support that will be raised as they grow. They are really cheap at places like Wilkinsons.
Don't forget to water your containers. Even if it's been raining. The plants can make an 'umbrella' over them, and they will soon dry out becoming susceptable to pests and disease.
Feed your baskets and containers weekly with something like a tomato feed, follow the instructions on packet. Your compost will only contain around enough nutrients to sustain it for about 4-6 weeks. BUT don't feed them if the compost is dry...you'll burn the roots.
Net your soft fruit, and veg like cabbage, broccoli etc as the birds will have their fill before you do. I tend to also net my peas to prevent the butterflies laying their eggs on them and other veg.
Don't forget to keep picking your salad leaves. As long as you leave a few leaves on each head, then you can continue cropping like this for weeks.
Keep sowing salad leaves every two weeks, but keep them in a cool, part shaded spot...they're not keen on hot sun.
Start to sow your calabrese now (what we call broccoli)
You can also take cuttings from your house plants now, and repot any that are a little potbound.
Pop a plant pot into your grow bags at each planting hole to help you water. Simply fill up the pots, and the water will go exactly where it needs to.
I also tend to plant up some tagetes/marigolds to arrange around my tomaotes to keep the aphids away. Works a treat!
Keep earthing up your potatoes, and don't forget to feed and water.
Feed your strawberries. I grow most of mine in hanging baskets to keep them away from the slugs :suspect:
You can cut away the foliage on your spring bulbs about now as they will have stored enough energy to be productive next year. It's also a good time to move any bulbs while you can still see where they are to fill gaps for next year.
You can divide your primulae now too to make more plants for free!
Thin out your fruit crops like plums and peaches, this will help prevent mildew and the fruits will be able to ripen properly without the risk of the branch breaking under the weight.
It's a good idea to mulch your plants, especially if you're planning a summer holiday. Water really REALLY well, then cover the base with your chosen mulch. This could be bark, or gravel, or even grass clippings. The idea is that the water will evaporate less quickly on a hot day.
Keep tying in and training your climbers. Try to train the shoots in horizontally, that way you'll have more flowers, and they won't all be right at the top of the plant out of your sight. This works well with clematis and climbing/rambling roses.
Weed. Weed. Weed. Summer is wonderful for your displays, but weeds can quickly ruin them, especially if allowed to run to seed. Some also reproduce via runners...shoots that can grow along or under ground and pop up where you least expect it. When you sow your seeds, sow in straight lines (diagonally perhaps). Weeds don't grow in lines so you'll know what are seedlings and what are the weeds.
Sow bi-ennials like foxgloves, forget-me-nots and wallflowers into a spare patch of ground or in trays. In autumn they should have put on enough growth to plant out.
Sow radishes, salad leaves, peas, beetroot every two weeks to prevent a glut.
Keep an eye on your roses for mildew and blackspot. Make sure you remove all the diseased leaves and bin or burn them, don't let them lie on the ground or compost them because it will spread. You can spray if you do that kind of thing, but do it every two weeks.
Remove pondweed etc from your pond. If you don't have a net you can twizzle it around a cane, but leave it on the bank overnight for any pondlife to make its way back into the water, and then you can compost it.
Top up the water, preferably with rainwater if you have fish etc.
Trim the grass in front of your house to help keep the weeds down...all those lovely yellow dandelions will soon invade your garden.
Enjoy any sunshine!
If you haven't already started, take cuttings of your perennials and there's still time to nip off the shoots from your bedding such as petunia and fuschias. If your kids are taking an interest, why not fill a small glass with water and arrange your fushia cuttings into it. (remember to remove the lower leaves). In a matter of days your kids can see the roots forming on the cutting. Once a good root system is created, simply pot up and grow on.
To make your plants bushier, nip out the tops (using them for your cuttings)
This is a good idea if you're going on holiday as it takes roughly 6 weeks from nipping out to the plants flowering - you need not miss the display.
If you've been hanging on, make up your hanging baskets as the risk of frost should have passed by now.
Support your taller plants. Sometimes if you plant in 'steps' then each plant will support the other, but chances are some of the mosters like delphiniums will need either staking with canes or using something like a ring support that will be raised as they grow. They are really cheap at places like Wilkinsons.
Don't forget to water your containers. Even if it's been raining. The plants can make an 'umbrella' over them, and they will soon dry out becoming susceptable to pests and disease.
Feed your baskets and containers weekly with something like a tomato feed, follow the instructions on packet. Your compost will only contain around enough nutrients to sustain it for about 4-6 weeks. BUT don't feed them if the compost is dry...you'll burn the roots.
Net your soft fruit, and veg like cabbage, broccoli etc as the birds will have their fill before you do. I tend to also net my peas to prevent the butterflies laying their eggs on them and other veg.
Don't forget to keep picking your salad leaves. As long as you leave a few leaves on each head, then you can continue cropping like this for weeks.
Keep sowing salad leaves every two weeks, but keep them in a cool, part shaded spot...they're not keen on hot sun.
Start to sow your calabrese now (what we call broccoli)
You can also take cuttings from your house plants now, and repot any that are a little potbound.
Pop a plant pot into your grow bags at each planting hole to help you water. Simply fill up the pots, and the water will go exactly where it needs to.
I also tend to plant up some tagetes/marigolds to arrange around my tomaotes to keep the aphids away. Works a treat!
Keep earthing up your potatoes, and don't forget to feed and water.
Feed your strawberries. I grow most of mine in hanging baskets to keep them away from the slugs :suspect:
You can cut away the foliage on your spring bulbs about now as they will have stored enough energy to be productive next year. It's also a good time to move any bulbs while you can still see where they are to fill gaps for next year.
You can divide your primulae now too to make more plants for free!
Thin out your fruit crops like plums and peaches, this will help prevent mildew and the fruits will be able to ripen properly without the risk of the branch breaking under the weight.
It's a good idea to mulch your plants, especially if you're planning a summer holiday. Water really REALLY well, then cover the base with your chosen mulch. This could be bark, or gravel, or even grass clippings. The idea is that the water will evaporate less quickly on a hot day.
Keep tying in and training your climbers. Try to train the shoots in horizontally, that way you'll have more flowers, and they won't all be right at the top of the plant out of your sight. This works well with clematis and climbing/rambling roses.
Weed. Weed. Weed. Summer is wonderful for your displays, but weeds can quickly ruin them, especially if allowed to run to seed. Some also reproduce via runners...shoots that can grow along or under ground and pop up where you least expect it. When you sow your seeds, sow in straight lines (diagonally perhaps). Weeds don't grow in lines so you'll know what are seedlings and what are the weeds.
Sow bi-ennials like foxgloves, forget-me-nots and wallflowers into a spare patch of ground or in trays. In autumn they should have put on enough growth to plant out.
Sow radishes, salad leaves, peas, beetroot every two weeks to prevent a glut.
Keep an eye on your roses for mildew and blackspot. Make sure you remove all the diseased leaves and bin or burn them, don't let them lie on the ground or compost them because it will spread. You can spray if you do that kind of thing, but do it every two weeks.
Remove pondweed etc from your pond. If you don't have a net you can twizzle it around a cane, but leave it on the bank overnight for any pondlife to make its way back into the water, and then you can compost it.
Top up the water, preferably with rainwater if you have fish etc.
Trim the grass in front of your house to help keep the weeds down...all those lovely yellow dandelions will soon invade your garden.
Enjoy any sunshine!