June
After all the May rain and recent sunshine, the gardens are flourishing, so green and lush and dotted with colour. The longest day of the year is not that far away, I can't belive it, where has the past six months gone. To be able to eat outside again and enjoy the long evenings is a joy I have missed.
It's a good reminder, especially for me, that our gardens are to be enjoyed, not become slaves to. With everything growing like mad the list of things that need 'doing' in the garden gets longer and longer. But we musn't let this consume us and stop us from just being in the garden and marvelling at the beauty and peace it shares with us.
I'm loving cool and calming shades at the moment, perhaps rather needed after the previous year. The classic white of Centaurea montana 'Alba', blues and purples of Aquilegia and the wildlife. In a bid to stop rushing around I have really enjoyed just watching the dragonflies dart around without a care in the world or the bees hop from flower to flower.
So yes crack on with the sowing, planting out and pruning, but don't forget to sit down, stop for a while and take it all in.
What to do in the garden this month:
Sow/Plant:
Sow more salad, radish, carrots, beetroot direct and fast growing annuals.
Plant out or direct sow french and runner beans, carrots, sweetcorn, squash and pumpkins.
Direct sow leeks and brassicas.
Harden off plants before planting out.
Plant out any late sweet peas and bedding.
Prick out and pot on late sown seedlings.
Thin out annuals.
Earth up main potatoes.
Plant out dahlias.
Harvest/pick:
Sweet peas, roses, peonies, pinks, alliums, broad beans, salad, radish, pea shoots, chard, spinach, asparagus, artichokes, rhubarb, early potatoes as soon as they flower.
Secature/lopper jobs:
Start deadheading.
Chelsea chop late flowering perennials.
Take dahlia cuttings.
Prune early flowering shrubs once blooms have finished
Stake/support:
Start staking tall perennials and dahlias before they get too tall!
Tie in sweet peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, climbing and runner beans.
Lawns and ponds:
Re edge, repair lawns and sow grass seed.
Mow when required but allow it to grow a little longer if it gets hot again!
Gardening adds years to your life and life to your years. – Unknown
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