June brings with it extra sunlight, warmer temperatures, flowers in abundance and those pesky weeds. There's plenty to keep you busy within the garden this month, from clipping topiary to cutting back Clematis. Check out our full hints and tips below.
Continue to stake or support fast-growing plants with appropriate materials such as pea sticks, nets and canes.
Lightly clip box edging and topiary to remove wandering shoots. Remember to provide feed and water, mainly if they have been growing in containers for some time.
Trim back the flowering growth of Erica carnea varieties and top-dress with peat-free compost.
Bulb foliage will be dying down this month, do not remove it until it has gone dry and yellow. Daffodil bulbs will be fine left in situ, but tulip bulbs need lifting carefully, cleaning, and drying off in shallow boxes. Keep well ventilated until ready for re-planting.
June is the worst month for weed growth. Water with a contact weedkiller under hedges, shrubs, and on paths or crazy paving. Alternatively, use a sharp hoe to keep stirring the soil to prevent the growth of seedlings.
Sow winter pansies, primulas, violas and Brompton stocks under glass. Foxgloves and wallflowers can be sown outside in a weed-free area of the border to flower next year.
Do not use lawn mowings as a mulch for trees and shrubs if the lawn has been treated with a weedkiller.
Plant out young dahlias by the middle of the month. Two or three weeks after planting, pinch out the tip of each leading shoot. This will encourage the production of further side shoots. Tie into stakes when about 18” tall with loose loops of raffia or string.
During warm, settled weather, syringe sweet peas with a mist of clean, soft water in the early morning or after sunset. If ground watering is essential, give the soil a good soaking of about 3 gallons. Buds which turn yellow and fall off before opening is not a disease but may indicate too much moisture at the roots.
To increase the number of strawberry plants, select strong runners or young established plants and dig a hole under the leaves. Fill the pot with compost and plant into it the rosette of leaves of the new plant. Peg it down firmly with a forked twig or wire staple and water in.
Remove self-sown trees such as sycamore and ash from around the garden, and ensure they are removed from near house and wall foundations. Weedkillers effectively dispose of plants challenging to dig out.
Clematis montana varieties have now finished flowering and will benefit from being cut back before the growth becomes a jungle!
Posted 7th Jun 1:10pm
