Gardening Tips for June

1. Tend to your flowers

The hallmarks of a beautiful and colourful garden are eye-catching flowers, potted plants, shrubs, and hanging baskets. But how do you manage your garden plants in June?

Planting and hardening off

As a keen gardener, you’ve likely been tending to your summer plants indoors, or within a greenhouse, in anticipation of outdoor planting this June.

We recommend planting your summer bedding plants and hanging baskets out after the chances of frost have reduced – in the UK, this is typically between late May and early June. This goes for plants grown from seed, plug plants, and container plants.

Any summer plants raised indoors will need to be hardened off for around two to three weeks before being planted in your garden. This process simply helps to acclimatise your plants to lower humidity, increased air movement, and cooler temperatures, enabling their survival.

Hardening off involves positioning these plants in a sheltered spot within your garden during the day, covering them with a fleece and then bringing them indoors at night. As the weeks go on, the fleece should be removed during the day, but used again as the plants are left outside overnight.

Prune shrubs and trim perennial plants

Pruning your flowering shrubs has many advantages, such as encouraging more flowers to grow, keeping your shrubs healthy, and making them look much neater.

Additionally, trimming and deadheading perennial plants, such as peonies, towards the end of June will help to encourage a second flush of blooms in late summer, or early autumn.

2. Get to work on your vegetable garden in June

There are plenty of crops to plant out and harvest whilst gardening in June, and while the list of things to sow begins to shrink, some seeds still need spreading in time for the autumn harvest.

Plant out your young vegetables

Similar to your summer plants, many of your greenhouse crops will be ready for planting out this month – yay! With a minimal chance of frost and cold snaps, it’s a great time to plant out the following:

• Aubergines – plant by the end of June to grow to their full potential.
• Summer cropping cauliflower seedlings
• Hot peppers and chillis – but they must be hardened off first.

• Young celery plants
• Tender vegetables – such as tomato plants, pumpkins, and sweet peppers.

Seeds to sow in June for an autumn harvest

In addition to planting out young plants, June is also a time to sow particular seeds that will mature in time for the Autumn harvest.

• Salad crops, including lettuce, radishes, and beetroots – sow throughout this month for an early autumn harvest. Check out tips for growing beetroots for an in-depth guide.
• Carrots – June is the last month to sow the main carrot varieties – if you’re short on space, consider growing carrots in containers. It’s a quick and simple method to squeeze in an extra crop!
• Kale seeds – continue sowing in seed trays or pots this month, ready for planting out in July to provide an autumn/winter harvest.
• Sweetcorn, peas, cucumbers, and runner beans – can be sowed into outdoor beds if your soil is warm enough.

Harvesting

Many crops will be ready for picking this June depending on the seeds sown earlier in the year. So, which vegetables are typically harvested in late spring/early summer?

• New potatoes – early varieties, such as Maris Bard.
• Garlic – whether its leaves are green or slightly yellowing, garlic can be removed from the soil this month. Please note: green leaf crops should be used soon after harvesting, while yellow leaf harvests are great for storing.
• Radishes – if sown successively, June harvests will be a product of late April or early May sowings.

Broad beans – if they were sown in March or April.

4. Keep on top of your garden maintenance

Your typical garden tasks require a little more attention during June:

Watering

Begin a regular watering routine across the whole garden whilst gardening in June to prevent drying out – this goes for plants, crops, and your lawn. Be sure to water daily in the early morning and evening.

Newly planted outdoor plants should be your priority to help them establish in their new growing environment. But pot and container-growing crops will also benefit from a healthy watering schedule, too!

Also, be sure to use water wisely around the garden in case of drought or a hosepipe ban – we recommend adopting a water-saving approach to gardening early to help you (and your plants) survive a dry season.

Feed your plants and lawn

Feeding your plants, lawn, and crops with fertiliser has a host of benefits and contributes to a blossoming and lush garden in June. Natural fertilisers, such as seaweed liquid feed, are great at improving root development and crop yield.

For plants, hedges, shrubs, and crops, we recommend fertilising every 7 days.

For lawns, you should typically apply fertiliser every two weeks for luscious and vibrant results.

Weed Control

While the extra warmth and sunshine in June will work wonders for your developing plants, surrounding weeds will also flourish from it. Keep on top of garden weeds by regularly hoeing. Dry conditions are best for hoeing, as this will help to destroy weed seedlings and prevent future weeds from growing.

Mowing your lawn

Whilst gardening in June, you should mow your lawn regularly, preferably once every week. This routine helps to keep your lawn looking healthy, dense, and neat. However, during dry spells consisting of hot days, you should leave your grass a little longer so it can cope more easily.

A good tip is to throw any grass trimmings into your compost pile in thin layers – how’s that for a sustainable garden in June?