What to do in the garden in June
There's no better place to be in June than in your garden. The veg garden is packed to overflowing: your flowers are a riot of colour and perfume. Keep the show dazzling with this month's key jobs.
General tasks:
- Top up mulches to keep weeds under control: a 5cm layer of well-rotted stable manure feeds your plants as it rots.
- Remove spent bulb foliage as they've now had enough time to build reserves. Start mowing lawns where bulbs have naturalised.
Ornamental garden:
- Fill hanging baskets with colourful geraniums, tuberous begonias or trailing petunias for a mass of colour all summer.
- Dead-head roses to keep them flowering, removing the spent flower down to just above the next pair of leaves.
- Prune spring-flowering shrubs like deutzia and philadelphus, taking out about a third of the oldest branches.
Kitchen garden:
- Look out for sawfly larvae on gooseberries and pick them off straight away as these little green caterpillars will strip every last leaf off your plants.
- Feed asparagus to help it build up a good crop for next year. Use general-purpose slow-release fertiliser, available from your favourite garden centre.
- Remove tomato sideshoots as they appear between leaf and stem, snapping them out with your fingers, so plants can concentrate on producing fruit.
