June Notes from the Studio

An audio tour of the plots this month with what to do on yours.

Come on a turn about the plots with me and I’ll tell you what I’ve been doing this month in the gardens in my audio postcard.

What to do in June

Planting out, hoeing, sowing & staking.

1. Planting out … everything!

   We seem past the fear of frosts now. It has been know to freeze into June but we haven’t had one for weeks and weeks. Everything from hardy to half hardy annuals (not frost hardy) can now be planted out. However, we have had hugely fluctuations in temperatures. I still have trays of plants that need to mature a little before planting out. Which leads me on to…

2. Slug protection

   If you are one of the lucky ones and not affected by slugs then please skip onto no.3 but for the majority of us, they’ve been feasting on our plants! My tried and tested method is to install slug traps but they must be maintained which is a little yueeww. Anyway, I have been doing this and it really makes a huge difference, completely chemical free so my soil balance isn’t changed by the metals in (even organic) pellets. Slugs are definitely the pest of this late spring!

3. Direct sowing seeds

   I wouldn’t usually still be direct sowing but since the soil is damp and temperatures mild, I reckon this is still an option. There are lots of vegetables to direct sow, I need to have another go at cima di rapa since said slugs got to them the first time. Also, salad leaves, herbs and beans. Also, nicotiana, zinnia and nasturtiums are great sown now to fill in the gaps of beds and borders. Do rake and prepare your soil well, water before sowing thinly and keep damp until the seeds emerge. That’s really tricky on our sandy soil but worth a go still.

4. Plant out Dahlias

   If you’ve planted your tubers and cuttings in to pots, now is a good time plant out. I highly recommend some slug traps! I still have lots of tubers sprouting in trays and since they kept getting nibbled, I will be growing them on a few weeks yet before planting out. Don’t panic just because everyone else seems to have massive plants or even cutting flowers! Better to have stronger, tougher leaves than soft sappy slug supper leaves. (Full 101 on Growing Dahlias and all the hard lessons I’ve learnt here)

5. Green Manures

   If you’ve cleared ground but don’t have anything to plant out, or even planted out and have lots of space around immature plants, sow green manures directly onto the soil. These are great fast growing plants that bring nutrients up, open up the soil, add organic matter and suppress unwanted weeds. They also activate the soil biology if the ground has been bare by making food. I cover ground with them, interplant and even cut them for flowers! Want to know more about these?

   

   I’ve sown green manures into this bed (and tried out this new idea)

6. Staking

   If you take nothing else from this, stake your plants when you plant! I said this last month. This time please get taking! Use canes and string, jute netting or pretty chestnut hurdles. Whatever, just give the plants some support as they grow, including peonies, dahlias, ammi & cosmos.

   

7. Chelsea Chop

   Chopping perennials to extend their flowering season. I do this on nepeta, echinops, achillea, aster and echinacea but also so many other late flowering plants. This will increase the flowering season with blooms following on as others go over. Much more on this and pictures on how I’ve cut my plants this week in last week’s Sunday report.

   

8. Sow Biennials

   Along with staking, this is one task not to forget. Blink and you miss the sowing biennials window. You won’t regret it next spring, or the one after (plants are larger in the 2nd year). Do make sure you have room on your plots to plant them out into final positions.

9. Spring Bulbs

   All my spring bulb leaves have yellow and died back so I’m lifting them out of pots and trays to dry and store in brown paper sacks until planting out in the Autumn (and hoping for a much better spring and flowering in 2025)

10. Lift and store ranunculus

    Any good looking corms or flowers I really want to keep, I pull up, dry out and store like bulbs in paper sacks. More on ranunculus here.

11. Deadheading

    One of my favourite jobs, tidying up and promoting flowering. Beared iris all need a chop now and I’m pinching off perennial cornflowers, calendula, corncockle, roses, all sorts. I even use the huge large foxglove flower and lots of smaller, more useable stems will follow on. I’m not tidy, I throw the spent flowers into the beds but that’s more food for the soil.

    

    Dead heading sweet peas!

12. Feeding

    I haven’t got round to mulching everything so I’m still throwing homemade compost over dahlias and under shrubs. I kept missing windows to feed plants last month, it was either way too hot or raining which means it all washes off. I will be taking a wander around the plots with a sprayer and a last go of the mixed compost feed before switching to the comfrey feed (make a batch this month).

13. Summer Nights

    I LIVE for the long summer evenings. Most of all enjoy it! I recommend a hammock.

    

Harvesting

Shrubs, Trees & Climbers - Viburnum opulus, roses, lonicera (honeysuckle), philadelphus.

Perennials - Peonies, perennial cornflowers, poppy, alchemilla mollis, mint & artichoke.

Biennials - Sweet rocket, sweet williams, honesty, wallflowers

Bulbs - Lillies, eremurus & alliums

Annuals - Iceland poppies, calendula, autumn sown early crops of cornflowers, orlaya and corncockle. Sweet peas - cut these as often as possible, feed and water to prolong flowering.

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