June is the month of mid-summer. You can tend your patch until late in the evening and make the most of the long days.
Most summer crops can still be sown, although it is getting a little late for courgettes, winter squashes and cucumbers (sow until early June). Keep on top of your salad sowing now and after solstice sow chicory, orientals, kohlrabi and Florence fennel which won’t bolt as quickly with the days getting shorter again.
It is not too late to direct sow flowers like poppies, zinnias, calendula, cosmos, sunflowers, or nasturtium.
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Asian Greens Seeds (6)
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Basil Seeds (6)
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Beans (12)
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Beetroot Seeds (6)
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Cabbage Seeds (6)
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Calendula Seeds (3)
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Carrot Seeds (4)
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Chard Seeds (5)
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Chicory and radicchio Seeds (8)
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Cosmos Seeds (7)
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Courgette Seeds (6)
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Cucumber Seeds (3)
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Fennel Seeds (1)
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Kale Seeds (7)
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Kohlrabi Seeds (2)
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Lettuce Seeds (20)
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Nasturtium Seeds (3)
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Parsley Seeds (2)
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Parsnip Seeds (1)
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Poppy Seeds (9)
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Rocket Seeds (2)
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Spring onion seeds (2)
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Squash and Pumpkin Seeds (8)
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Sunflower Seeds (6)
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Swede Seeds (2)
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Sweetcorn Seeds (1)
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Turnip Seeds (2)
It’s a busy time in the garden, where your labour really begins to pay off in your harvests and the unfolding beauty of the plants around you. Here’s a list of jobs to keep you busy in the long days and balmy evenings perfectly suited to a spot of gardening.
– Keep on top of sideshooting and winding on your tomatoes
– Give your tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, cucumbers, courgettes and squash an extra boost with a seaweed feed – switch to a comfrey feed once plants begin to flower
– Get your comfrey tea brewing in preparation if you haven’t already
– Protect emerging carrot seedlings from root fly with horticultural mesh
– Plant out leek seedlings once they have reached pencil-thickness
– Grow lots of insect-attracting flowers and herbs (e.g. borage, chives) to bring in the beneficial creatures such as parasitic wasps, ladybirds etc
– Sow biennial flowers like Iceland Poppies, Foxgloves, Sweet Rocket, Honesty and Hollyhock
– Get your brassica plants in the ground, planting deep and firm to establish strong growth
– Sow successional sowings of lettuce, radish, beetroot, carrots, dwarf french beans, kohl rabi and spring onions to keep continuous harvests throughout the summer
– Keep earthing up your potatoes as they grow
– Keep weeds at bay and help plants get established by hoeing reguarly. “One year’s seed, seven years weed” is how the saying goes. Chickweed can complete its life cycle in 5-6 weeks and will produce up to 20,000 seeds per plant. So make sure you stay on top of your weeds at this time of year especially!