Summer officially arrives on 21st of June, which is actually the longest day of the year. All of the extra light and warmth that comes with summer gives you plenty of opportunities to have your garden looking amazing.
The heat and light will create a boom of growth within your garden, flowers are beginning to appear in mass and there is plenty for you to harvest from your fruit and vegetable patches! But be warned, weeds will also follow suit and begin growing at a similar rate, be sure to keep on top of them.
To help manage your workload or bypass tasks that may not be relevant to your garden or outdoor space, we have categorised monthly jobs into the following four sections:
The maintenance tasks for this month are again, less labour intensive than compared with the start of the year. Ensuring your lawn, plants and flowers are in the best conditions to thrive is the main focal point this month. With some regular pruning and trimming.
Take advantage of the warmer and longer days now available and set your garden up to develop wonderfully through summer. We recommend completing as many of these tasks as you can before moving on to the other sections of our June gardening tasks.
To speed up decomposition, empty, mix and refill your compost bins regularly
For at least the first month, water your newly laid turf several times a week
Until they are well established, continue watering any new plantings
Prune your evergreen Clematis armandii if it has become too large
After flowering, prune shrubs such as chaenomeles kerria, choisya, and ribes
Every six weeks, trim fast-growing hedges such as your privets
Your lawns should being fed with a liquid or granular lawn fertiliser
Spray roses showing disease signs such as blackspot, powdery mildew or rust
Add vine weevil control to patio pots if this pest has been a problem in the past
Cutting right back to the base, remove all-green shoots on variegated shrubs
As soon as you see them, dig out perennial weeds, such as couch grass and bindweed
Support tall, large-flowered dahlias with stakes and tie in stems as they grow
Before you start any trimming or pruning, check hedges and shrubs for nesting birds
Warmer weather means more growing opportunities! We have been waiting so long for good weather to return to allow us to begin growing more vibrant and tropical plants and food, don’t waste this opportunity and ensure you tick off each job from our task list!
However, be aware that it could get too warm for some plants. Ensure you keep the temperature down on hot days by increasing shading and ventilation.
Follow the following list of jobs to ensure your greenhouse is in the best condition to host and grow your plants & crops:
To keep the temperature down on hot days, increase your greenhouses shading and ventilation
If you have pests such as whitefly or red spider mites in your greenhouse, introduce biological controls
If vine weevil has been an issue in the past, treat your pots for control as larvae become active this month
You should be feeding your flowering or fruiting plants weekly with a tomato feed
To prevent split fruits and blossom end rot, water your greenhouse tomatoes regularly
As temperatures and light levels increase, water your houseplants more frequently
Ideally, in the evening or early morning, water plants daily in warm weather but avoid splashing foliage
In a warm but sheltered spot, put your houseplants outside for the summer to enjoy the fresh air and light
Harden off your pots and hanging baskets of summer beddings that have been growing in your greenhouse
Tender vegetables raised outdoors should be planted out such as beans, tomatoes, courgettes & sweetcorn
To grow on your kitchen windowsill, begin sowing herbs in pots such as basil, coriander & parsley
In seed trays, begin sowing biennials, including foxgloves, honesty, wallflowers and sweet rocket
June is the time to start regularly pinching out the side shoots of your cordon tomatoes
Start taking leaf cuttings of houseplants including African violets & begonias
From hydrangeas, take softwood cuttings & stand on a bright windowsill or in a greenhouse
Some people may think that it is too late to begin planting and sowing new plants, but there are still plenty of options for you this month! June is mainly known for being the time to begin outdoor sowing a wide range of popular border flowers whilst also ensuring your existing growing efforts are maintained.
Read through the jobs below and complete the June jobs that are relevant to your wants & needs but are also within the capabilities of your outdoor space.
To encourage flowering, every few weeks give your containers and hanging baskets a liquid feed
To ensure that the flowers are a deep and rich blue, add a colourant solution to your hydrangeas
After your tulip bulbs have flowered, they should be lifted out of their growing area and stored away
Support all of your tall-growing perennials with a sturdy cane, including hollyhocks and delphiniums
To support & encourage more flowers, tie in new stems of climbing and rambling roses horizontally
To add some instant colour, fill any garden border gaps with pots of tall bulbs, such as fragrant lilies
Create a new tropical display by planting tender exotics including bananas, coleus, cannas and amaranthus
Around the edges of your pond, add some marginal plants such as arum lilies and marsh marigold
In pots and borders, keep planting summer bedding and water regularly to help them establish quickly
To promote flowering next spring, give wisteria a summer prune, cutting all long sideshoots back to 20cm
After flowering, you should prune your late-spring and early-summer shrubs such as weigela and philadelphus
To encourage a fresh flush of foliage, cut back your spring-flowering perennials, such as pulmonaria
Cut non-flowering shoots from your pinks and carnations which should root readily
To encourage bushier growth, pinch out the tips of your fuchsias and bedding plants
All of your work in prior months will soon come to fruition, those tricky sowing and growing conditions you faced will soon leave you with a superb and varied harvest! Help your existing crops with continued watering (especially on the warmer days), give long-stemmed plants support and start planting out certain vegetables.
Be sure you complete all of the suitable tasks for your outdoor space and we hope your produce growing is successful!
After hardening off, plant out sweetcorn and arrange the plants in blocks to aid pollination
Plant up an edible hanging basket with trailing tomatoes & herbs and keep it well watered
Tie in new shoots of blackberries, raspberries, loganberries and other cane fruits
To hold moisture around roots, spread mulch around thirsty crops such as beans and courgettes
As they begin to flower, you need to ensure you continue to regularly water your bean and pea plants
Especially during dry and sunny weather, regularly water vegetables and fruit in containers
Enjoy your last asparagus harvests and leave the ferny top-growth to grow over summer
To fruiting veg crops such as tomatoes, chillies & courgettes, regularly apply tomato feed
Any raspberry canes sprouting up out of their dedicated area should be pulled out
Take softwood cuttings of herbs such as sage, plant them in gritty compost and place on a sunny windowsill
For a fresh crop of new leaves in just a few weeks, rejuvenate chives by cutting the clump down to the base
Check all of your fruit trees for wooly aphids and treat any infestations you find with a soap-based spray
Reduce snail populations by going on regular evening hunts, especially during damp weather
To protect your developing and ripening fruits, cover them with a netting or a fleece