Many summer flowering plants are now in very active growth and it is a good time to propagate by taking softwood cuttings. Plants that will give good results at this time of year include Fuchsias, Pelargoniums, Buddleia, lavender and Hydrangea. Providing bottom heat using a heated propagator will increase your chances of success.
Early flowering shrubs can now be pruned as the new growth that comes this summer will give next year’s flowering wood. Deutzia, Kolkwitzia, Philadelphus and Weigela should all finish flowering in June, making later in the month an ideal time to prune them. Early June is also the traditional time for trimming box. While doing this, keep an eye out for damage caused by box tree caterpillars. This relatively newly arrived pest is spreading rapidly in Southern England and can cause serious defoliation. The RHS is running a survey to track its spread and you can record sightings here.
Keep on top of weeds, which are likely to be growing well in warmer conditions. If conditions are dry then hoeing annual and ephemeral weeds can be very effective at this time of year. Perennial weeds, especially those with long tap roots will still need to be dug out.
Another maintenance job that will be high on the agenda this month is mowing, the warm weather coupled with the plentiful rain we had earlier in the spring, means that grass is likely to be growing strongly. Don’t set mower blades too low as taking a lot of growth off in one pass can stress the plants. If you do need to take quite a lot of growth off, try to do it in a couple of stages. A mown lawn really helps to make the whole garden look neater.
A mown lawn
In the vegetable garden, all risks of frost should now have passed so it is time to plant out tender crops such as courgettes, squashes and outdoor tomatoes. Squashes will grow really quickly in the warmer weather, but do keep them well watered. Recently we’ve taken to using the gro-pots often used with gro-bags to make sure that we can direct water to the roots of plants.
Squash bed in late June
Elsewhere in the vegetable plot, everything should be growing strongly, so remember to feed the plants. For leafy crops a general feed will work well, but for fruiting crops (tomatoes etc.) now is the time to switch to a high potassium feed to foster flower and fruit formation. Keep an eye on your tomatoes and keep pinching out the additional shoots growing from the axils of the main stem to ensure that you have one solid stem transporting water and nutrients to the swelling fruit.
Early peas are starting to be ready for picking now and this is the perfect time to sow more peas to give an extra autumn crop.
Peas for picking
If you have apple or pear trees you’ll notice that the trees are shedding small immature fruit at the moment. This “June drop” is perfectly normal and once it is done, then it is time to thin out the fruit even further. Thinning out will give you much better quality fruit and reduce the risk of diseases (such as brown rot) which can be spread by overcrowding.
June drop
Finally, one of the joys of gardening is looking forward and now is the time to sow wallflowers that you can plant out in the autumn ready for flowering next spring.