Gardening tips for June
Summer is finally arriving, and the daylight hours are at their longest this month. Now’s the perfect time to spend as much time outdoors as possible and enjoy the work you’ve put into your garden so far.
Your outdoor space will be going through an exuberant burst of growth and flowering throughout the month, so make sure everything stays looking beautiful by tidying and maintaining your garden and caring for the plants you’ve spent so much time growing.
There can be quite a few things to keep on top of in your garden in June, but with our handy guide, those essential gardening jobs will be over in no time, giving you even more space to sit back, relax, and enjoy all your efforts.
Our Green Team's top tips:
June is a great time to plant out young bedding plants, as the air and soil temperatures are high and will set your plants off to a great start. However, the heat may also dry out the soil too much, which can prolong plant growth. Make sure to keep your grows hydrated and water as often as needed, especially during long, hot spells.
What can I do in my garden in June?
One of the best things about having a garden is being able to plant and grow gorgeous flowers or tasty fruit and veg. For some, they might prefer the routine of building a new furniture set and lighting the first BBQ of the summer.
However you like to enjoy your outdoor space, there are a few basic maintenance tasks that are essential in creating a beautiful space for you to enjoy.
Weeds are likely to sprout more often and be at their strongest in the June heat. Keep on top of them by hoeing weeds regularly during dry weather before they get the chance to establish. You can also use weedkiller or apply a thick layer of mulch over soil’s surface to prevent any further weeds from growing.
When the warm weather is fully underway, be sure to protect your plants and garden from too much heat. Make watering plants part of your daily routine and mulching your plants with organic matter can lock in moisture (and over time improve your soil!).
Don’t forget to water your pots and containers and feed every few weeks with liquid feed.
Start mowing your lawn at least once a week if the weather is dry and not too hot. Reduce the cutting height of your mower now that grass is growing more strongly. However, if you’d like a more wildlife friendly lawn, let your grass grow alongside wildflowers to support pollinating insects.
It’s best not to mow your lawn during a heatwave as your grass will already be suffering in dry, hot weather, and put it under more stress. If you have to mow your lawn in these conditions, raise the height of your blades and water after mowing.
Take advantage of the longer evenings and refresh your shed or fence panels with a fresh lick of paint.
Prune any spring flowering shrubs as soon as the flowers have faded and remove spent branches with secateurs or loppers to allow new growth to develop.
Early season herbaceous plants, such as hardy geranium and poppies, can be cut back after flowering to encourage regrowth.
If you’re trimming bushes, remember to check for nesting birds first, and if necessary, wait for late fledglings to fly.
Flowers to plant this month
By June, the flowers in your garden should now be full of growth and colour – if not, now’s the perfect month to fill your borders, patio containers, hanging baskets, and window boxes with instant summer colour.
Our Plant of the Month is the wonderful rose, and its season is just beginning. Available in a variety of shapes, colours, and scents, roses are an essential plant for any garden. Plus, maintenance is relatively easy – make sure to deadhead them regularly to ensure they continue flowering.
In beds and borders
Fill any gaps in your beds and borders with summer bedding plants, such as dahlia, cosmos, and nicotiana.
Elegant fuchsias bloom from summer to the early frosts, making them the ideal plant to find space for in your garden this month.
Hardy geraniums are long-lasting and easy to grow, and they’ll often put on a second, late season flower display if you mulch and feed them for an extra boost.
Bedding plants raised from seed or at the young plant stage should be planted out now.
To add volume and impact to your borders, plant shrubs like lavender, roses, or hebes.
More exotic plants such as canna, bananas, palms, and cordylines make great additions to pots and borders for a more tropical look.
In pots and containers
Hanging baskets are the star of the show this summer. They’re quick and easy to plant up, bringing versatile colour to your walls, doorways, or fences. We’d recommend begonias, busy lizzies, petunias, and dianthus.
For stylish permanent planting in containers, consider Japanese Maples in all their beautiful foliage colours. Hydrangeas offer large flower heads which can last well into the autumn and look beautiful, too.
Seeds to sow
Pansies and violas
Primroses
Stock
Sweet William
Calendula
Godetia
Clarkia
Lupins
Delphiniums
Coreopsis (last chance to sow)
What fruit and veg can I grow in June?
June is normally the best time to harvest the vegetables you started growing earlier in the year, such as spring onions, lettuce, and radishes. Finish harvesting asparagus spears and continue to pull rhubarb stems regularly throughout the month.
If you sowed courgette and squash seeds indoors, then these can now be planted out.
Re-sow salad seeds every 10-14 days for a constant supply of fresh leaves, or if you simply can’t wait, we have a wide range of young vegetable plants in-store for quicker results.
Continue to earth up potatoes to avoid tubers being exposed to the light and turning green. The early potatoes you planted back in March will be ready for harvesting soon, maturing around 10 weeks from planting.
If you’ve got a head start on your tomato crop, check for any shoots sprouting above each leaf, and pinch the join between the leaf and the stem to concentrate energy into creating fruit.
Strawberries grown in greenhouses or under cloches will be ripe, juicy, and ready for harvesting by now. Any outdoor grown strawberry plants should be ready later in the month, just in time to be enjoyed with fresh cream!
Protect any soft fruit plants that aren’t ready to harvest yet from birds using netting.
Seeds to sow
Salad crops such as beetroot, lettuce, pak choi, and radishes
French and runner beans
Peas
Sweetcorn
Cucumber
Squash
Pumpkins (last chance to sow)
Marrows
Courgettes
Turnips
Broccoli
How to look after wildlife this month
During summer, our gardens are filled with different critters, visiting to find food, pollen, or shelter. It’s important to keep looking after the birds, insects, and furry friends, especially during the warmer weather. Be sure to add pockets of water like bird baths to your garden as a source of hydration, and as a place for birds to cool off in the summer heat.
Create shade with native shrubs and trees, as these spots in the garden can help animals from over-heating.
Offer supplementary feeding to birds by way of fat, suet, and mealworms. Why not try your hand at creating our own seedballs?
Help hedgehogs move freely between your neighbourhood garden by creating a nature highway. Cut shortcuts through fences and/or walls to allow little paws to travel from garden to garden in search of food.
We’d love to see what you get up to in the garden this June. Take a picture and tag us @dobbiesgardencentres for your chance to be featured on our social media channels.