Your Garden Jobs for your June

At last the summer months have arrived. The extra light and warmth encourages the garden to put on a huge burst of growth. Herbaceous borders are reaching their early summer peak and the kitchen garden is becoming productive.

Plants of the Moment – HERBS

Whether it’s a few pots on the windowsill or a full blown herb garden, herbs are both useful and beautiful. They can be culinary, medicinal or ornamental, and some, such as lavender can be all three – use it cooked with lamb, as a sleep remedy or as a border edging. From sage to thyme, rosemary to clipped bay and flowering chives; herbs can produce long-lasting displays as well as regular pickings for the kitchen.

There are hardy shrubs like Rosemary, lavender, bay and sage or perennial varieties such as mint and fennel that will grow back again year after year, while others (like coriander and basil) are annual herbs that will not survive winter outside, so new plants will be needed each year. Herbs can be grown in pots (especially mint which spreads profusely but makes delicious tea), in herb gardens, as a useful ground cover plant (thyme or chamomile) or included simply in the flower border. Although many herbs are of Mediterranean origin and relish hot dry conditions, to get the best from herbs in pots most require regular watering to prevent their compost drying out completely.

Jobs for the garden

Prune spring flowering shrubs after the blooms have faded, they will flower next year on the new
growth they create this year.
Check roses for mildew, aphid, black-spot or other insect or disease problems and if they appear, take steps to control them straight away
If you haven’t done so yet plant out summer bedding into borders, containers and hanging baskets
Remember to feed your containers and hanging baskets weekly with a liquid feed such as Miracle Gro or Tomorite. Dead-head spent blooms regularly
Stake tall plants and continue to tie in climbers, such as clematis and sweet pea.
Begin to cut the grass regularly and fill in any bare spots by slightly loosening the surface of the soil
and sow a good quality lawn seed over the area evenly
Pinch out sideshoots on tomatoes and harvest lettuce, radish, other salads and early potatoes
Keep on top of weeds by hoeing regularly in dry conditions.
Water tubs and new plants if dry, but be water-wise. Water borders thoroughly and deeply each time to get to the roots – the opposite of little and often applies.
Put straw under the strawberries to keep them clean and dry, net all soft fruit to keep the birds away.