June Jobs to do in the Garden

Welcome to June - the month of long, sun-drenched afternoons (we hope!) and gardens bursting into peak production! With the Summer Solstice just around the corner, plant growth is rapid, and everything is reaching for the light.

While there is plenty of time to sit back and enjoy the sweet perfume of Summer Roses and Hydrangeas, keeping on top of a few essential maintenance tasks now will ensure your outdoor space thrives all the way through to autumn. Here is your ultimate guide to what needs doing in the garden this month.

🌸 1. In the Flower Borders

June is all about nurturing your blooms and supporting the heavy growth that characterises early summer.

• Stake Tall Perennials: Delphiniums, peonies, lupins, and gladioli are growing fast. Stake them now before heavy summer rain or wind bows their heads. Use bamboo canes, hazel twigs, or loop-ring herbaceous supports.
• Deadhead Regularly: Keep your secateurs handy. Regularly deadheading roses, sweet peas and bedding plants signals the plant to invest energy into fresh new buds rather than setting seed, guaranteeing an uninterrupted display.
• The Chelsea Chop (Last Chance!): If you haven't already, trim back late-flowering perennials like sedums, phlox and asters by up to a third. This keeps them compact, encourages bushier growth, and prevents them from flopping over later in the season.

💡 Top Tip for Perfect Pots: Container displays dry out rapidly on warm, breezy June days. Water your pots daily - ideally early in the morning or late in the evening to minimise evaporation. Add a balanced liquid seaweed or tomato fertiliser once a week to keep summer bedding vibrant and hungry for bloom.

🥕 2. In the Kitchen Garden

Your vegetable patches and fruit cages are shifting into overdrive. Keeping up a routine is the secret to a bumper harvest.

• Pinch Out Tomato Side Shoots: Check your cordon (indeterminate) tomatoes regularly. Pinch out the small shoots that appear in the 'V' joints between the main stem and the leaf branches to direct all the plant's energy into fruit production.
• Protect Soft Fruit: Strawberries, raspberries and currants are quickly ripening. Net your fruit cages tightly to prevent local birds from clearing out your hard-earned harvest before you do.
• Succession Sowing: Don't plant everything at once! Keep sowing salad leaves, radishes, spring onions, carrots and beetroot at two-week intervals to guarantee a continuous supply of fresh, crisp produce all summer long.
• Earth Up Potatoes: Draw soil up around the stems of your potato plants to block out light. This prevents the developing tubers near the surface from turning green and toxic.

🏡 3. Lawn Care & Maintenance

The lawn is the green canvas of your garden and summer traffic means it needs a little extra care.

• Adjust Mower Height: During hot, dry spells, raise the cutting height of your lawnmower blades. Longer grass retains soil moisture better, stays greener and helps resist weed invasion.
• Water New Turf Wisely: Established lawns will recover quickly from drought, but any newly laid turf or freshly reseeded patches must be kept thoroughly watered during dry spells.

📋 Your June Weekend Checklist

• [ ] Tie in climbing roses and sweet peas to their supports using soft twine.
• [ ] Apply a layer of organic mulch (like compost or bark chips) to conserve moisture around thirsty shrubs.
• [ ] Damp down greenhouse floors on hot days to increase humidity and deter red spider mites.
• [ ] Check under leaves for aphids and soft-bodied pests; wash them off with a sharp blast of water or an eco-friendly bug spray.

🦆 4. Wildlife & Water Features

• Top Up Ponds and Bird Baths: Warm weather causes rapid evaporation. Keep bird baths clean and full of fresh water, and top up garden ponds using collected rainwater where possible.
• Leave an Unmown Patch: Consider leaving a small corner or border of your lawn to grow wild. Tall grass provides critical shelter for insects, frogs and hedgehogs during the heat of the day.

Need the right tools, organic feeds, bird baths, or fresh summer bedding to fill your gaps? Pop into any of The Gardening Club centres this week! Our teams are always on hand with friendly advice to help your garden reach its full potential.