June in the Garden

The long days of June mean that we can now spend longer hours in the garden. Hopefully the weather will be good and we can spend most of that time relaxing and enjoying the fruits of our work outdoors earlier in the year. There are still plenty of jobs to be done however so you’ll need to pop out of the deck chair occasionally.

Jobs in the garden in June

• For long-lasting summer colour for your patio and home consider planting your hanging baskets, window boxes and patio planters with the following flowering plants – Double Flowering Begonias, Trailing Petunias, Million Bells, Purple Tapien, Red Verbena, Geraniums and Trailing Lobelias in mixed colours. Remember to use Horkans own compost when planting and feed your flowering containers with One Plant Food every week.
• It is an ideal time to plant Tomatoes, Cucumbers and Peppers in pots to grow on your sunny patio. Choose the grafted varieties of Tomato and Cucumber, Grafted plants are more vigorous and produce a heavier crop of great tasting fruit.
• Mares Tail Weed can be problematic this month in many gardens. This weed spreads by underground stems and will quickly spread to shrub. The only weed killer I have found effective is Neudorff fast acting weed killer, Simply mix with water and apply.
• Plant vegetable and herb plants right throughout the month of June and July to provide you with lots of fresh vegetables and herbs for late summer and autumn. Cabbage, Lettuce, Cauliflower, Broccoli, Spinach, Brussels Sprouts and Beetroot should be planted this month.
• Roses will come into flower this month, as roses are hungry feeders I would apply a dressing of Sudden impact rose fertilizer every four weeks and treat your roses to a spray of Rose Rescue to keep them pest and disease free. Regular feeding will encourage larger and better clusters of flowers and help encourage your roses to flower all summer right up to late winter.
• June is the ideal month to sow a new lawn or wildflower area in your garden, Lawn and wildflower seeds will germinate quickly at this time of year and will continue to make strong growth before autumn. The best lawn seed mix for a hard wearing easy to maintain lawn is Green Velvet. It’s easy to grow and forms a rich green lawn.
• The higher temperatures experienced this month make ideal conditions for sowing the seeds of flowers that bloom every year. Flowers including Lupins, Foxgloves, Poppies, Delphiniums, Salvia, Rudbeckia, Aubrietia and Phlox can be sown from seed in seed trays or directly out into the garden soil. These perennial flowers will bloom next spring and summer and flower for many years after.
• All fruiting plants and especially Apples, Pears, Plums, fruiting Cherries, Gooseberries and Blackcurrants will benefit from a dressing of sudden impact fertilizer. Its high in potash and this encourages larger and better quality fruit. Simply sprinkle Sulphate of Potash around the base of the fruit trees before rain is promised.
• Plant summer colour in shrub beds and flower borders by adding summer bedding plants to any gaps between shrubs or existing flowers. Summer bedding plants will flower from June to November and some of the best varieties include Antirrhinums, Salvia, Petunias, double flowering Begonias, Ageratum, scented white Alyssum, Marigolds and Busy Lizzies.
• June is a great month to plant flowering and foliage trees in your garden, All trees are in full leaf and many varieties flower in summer so this month is the ideal time to select a range of different trees for your garden. Some of my favourites include, Liquid Amber for its beautiful foliage colour, Acer Crimson Sentry and Acer Drummondii again for their stunning foliage colour, Malus Everest for the beautiful flowers which are followed by coloured fruits and Silver Birch which is easy to grow and beautiful all year round.