June
Top tips for growing flowers this month; green manures make for easy weeding, planting out and feeding.
Time almost stands still in June. I imagine a pendulum of the year’s clock, pausing for an indeterminable moment on the apex of the swing, hanging, before the huge weight of the seasons causes the turn to the other direction. On midsummers night.
Just as the days are reliably warm and we realised it was so light outside, daylight hours peak. I find it so bittersweet. In the gardens, we had the brash Spring opening act to the year. Easy peasy to create with bulbs and masses of flowering shrubs and perennials. But then it gets a little sparse. A June Gap. A tricky one to traverse.
If a garden looks great in June, the months either side will be even more challenging. You see, June plants like iris, delphiniums, lupins, peonies, foxtail lilies take up a huge amount of room in a border. Emerging in late winter, swelling over the months, to explode now. They are some of the superstars of the garden, with good reason. The epitome of a cottage garden. But soon after, these retreat leaving huge gaps, which are difficult to plug in a perennial planting design.
My solution? Drop in pots of ready grown plants! The ultimate Blue Peter ‘here’s one I started earlier’. Ideally, you’d begin these from seed undercover a few months ago, otherwise buy small plug plants (from the market or check your local flower grower), pot on into a larger one and literally drop in to the border. You can leave these sitting on top of the soil or cut the bottom out and sink the bottoms in. Good plants for this are dahlias, nasturtiums and cosmos. All will rise up over the June bed and blur all the edges. A great trick this. When the days might be shortening already, there is still a good 12 weeks of summer garden to enjoy.
It is the great plant out. If you didn’t do it before, gardeners and growers all over are bringing precious trays of seedlings out, after the last frost date, to get in the ground. This is the culmination of a springs work and full of hope. I’ll water the plants well the evening before and plant, ideally on a cooler day, into watered holes. I’ll water again when I see fresh new growth, knowing that the roots have stretched and explored into their new home.
In the garden, the rising temperatures and longer days create rapid flourish, then as the year turns, annuals will race to flower and set seed in earnest so that their offspring will germinate before the winter. Literally making hay whilst the sun shines. Remember to cut the flowers, or at least remove spent blooms to welcome the next set of stems to follow on. This way flowers will continue for many weeks.
Stake plants too, individually with a couple of canes, or a metal support. If growing in beds like I do, with jute netting stretched between stakes about 18” high. It is hard to believe that tiny plugs will grow several feet over the next few months, but they do. And there are always summer storms to test.
Finally, do sow some biennials for your June garden next year. Honesty, sweet rocket and wallflowers are such gap fillers but utterly lovely in their own right. They take a full year to grow and flower from seed, and often better the following year still.
There is a ‘stop and stare’ quality to June. On the cusp of a decent into summer. Emerald green leaves, before the hot sun has bleached them, bird song and a gentle warm breeze makes June utterly magical in the garden.
The Great Plant Out
If you only do one thing this week, it’s plant as much as you can out! If like me, you sowed every spare tray you could this spring, you’ll have a lot to do. This straight forward task is scuppered by beds that need clearing.
This is a story of two parts. Last autumn was long. The frost was as late as I’ve ever known. Then winter came hard, and stayed. We went from growth to, ahem, death, overnight. Wet autumn soil froze solid for over a week. There was no chance of weeding or clearing beds so I left them as they were. Annuals died off and were easily pulled, but any perennial weeds seemed to love the winter and now are even more established. Clearing those beds is a huge task even though I maintain that having ‘something green’ in the beds keeps the soil active.
The other part of the story. Where I cleared plants and sowed green manures, even as early as March, the clearing is a game changer. It is so easy to pull those plants. I’m leaving the roots in the soil. It’s such a quick job, straight into the barrow and loads of fodder for the compost heap. The soil seems in good nick beneath too.
I’ve only been experimenting with green manures for about a year but I am totally converted. I’m convinced that when I focus on the soil first, the plants look after themselves. This goes further to feeding plants and watering them. Everything I have been planting out was well watered before. Then not again until I saw fresh growth. This ensures roots run down searching for water rather than sit at the hot dry surface expectantly waiting for my attentions. With such a dry month, the water butts are already empty, annuals are going to have to be self reliant (I never water shrubs or perennials). The more one waters, the more the plants need it. Tough love breeds tough plants and great strong stems.
Those in pots and trays will need more attention. Get those in the ground too.
JUNE FLOWER GROWING TASKS
I am loving the long days. Friends who hate the winter think I am trite for saying so, but as a lapsed catholic, I adore the delayed gratification of the summer after the winter’s hardship. But you’ll know I love all the seasons and treasures each one exclusively brings to the party. But those still mornings, the 8pm golden hour, insects buzzing and warm sun, those are the best.
Plant out all annuals out into their final position.
It bears repeating. Don’t leave plants in the their trays labouring away when they just want to stretch into the soil. Do as I say and not as I do (and those I can’t get in, I’ll pot on. I’m planning an ‘Open Gate’ later this month - come and get those)
Plant dahlias out.
These deserve their own listing. Plant them and don’t water until they are 5”. Pinch out to just a few shoots and concentrate on getting the supports in before they get too high. I’ll keep saying it until I don’t need to. You’ll have stronger, deeper rooting, more floriferous plants.
Final sowings of half hardy and hardy annuals.
If you have gaps, it is worth a last attempt for late summer flowers. The quickest are poppies that love to grow in newly turned warm soil. They’ll flower in about 8 weeks.
Thin out annuals
Those that self sowed (oh the joy of a mature plot) or you directly sowed in the spring, can be thinned out to allow plenty of room for growth, light and air circulation. You aren’t alone if you find it so hard to pull out perfectly good, strong plants but the ones left will be better for it. You could transplant these into another spot, pot them on for a friend or throw into the compost heap for next years plants. You have far too many other things to do and the soil needs that food.
Sow Biennials for flowers this time next year
Still time to do this over the next few weeks. When there is so much to do for this years garden, it seems a job too many to attempt biennials but you will be thrilled this time next year if you do. Read up on my favourites here.
Final ‘balanced’ feeds
Did you make your own feed with nettles, compost and stinky fresh manure? Goodness you know it is ready when it stinks. The plants love it. After midsummer the plants need to concentrate on flowers and fruit so I’m using all this up now to feed plants trace nbuttirent and minerals to grow strong roots and leaves. I don’t water the soil, most of it will get lost. I add a couple of tea cups to my 10 litre sprayer and go over the whole plots one evenning, covering the leaves and stems (avoid any flowers). This is a great folier feed. You need less liquid, it’s fair quicker and effective being taken in more directly by the plants.
Lift and split spring bulbs
If they didn’t flower well as over crowded, these will do far better to be replanted in the autumn with more space.
Deadhead & deadhead
After all your efforts, don’t let plants run to seed before their time. Keep snipping off flower heads that bloomed before you got to them.
Harvesting
Shrubs - Philadelphus, viburnum, roses, lonicera
Perennials - Perennial Poppies & cornflowers, aquilegia, ladies mantle, peonies, delphiniums, nepeta, iris
Biennials - Sweet rocket, foxgloves, sweet william, honesty
Annuals - Autumn sown plants will be big and flowering now including cornflowers, orlaya and sweet peas. Cut hard for fresh new growth and flowers.
For more on all of these tasks this month, upgrade for weekly emails. Every Tuesday, I take you through growing flowers step by step with my full harvest list direct into your inbox. Each month there is a floral recipe with combinations and methods for growing, cutting and conditioning for you gather the same.
Oh Anna, the first 5 lines, 'Time almost stands still........I find it so bittersweet.' so eloquently described a feeling that washed over me yesterday in the garden, when I was reminded that mid-Summer is almost upon us. Your writing is beautiful and so informative. thank you. Such a busy time in the garden, we must remember to take time to sit and revel in all its glory, if only for a few minutes.
So much content to absorb ponder and action - floral recipe is a favourite .
Off to plant out, sow bi annuals, deadhead, etc etc .