Garden in June: Harvesting, Planting, Sunbathing...
A lot of hard work in the spring garden starts paying off in full this month. You can finally enjoy tender salads, delicious peas, or crispy kohlrabi to your heart's content. Don't rest on your laurels though - keep vegetable beds free of weeds, hoe them, and water when needed.
Tomatoes Will Appreciate Care and Nutrition
With staking tomatoes, don't forget to remove side shoots in the leaf axils (so-called suckers) - this helps tomatoes focus more on fruit production rather than vigorous growth in all directions. Tomatoes grow quickly in height, so tie them up regularly. Developing vegetables also need feeding. The best treat is easily soluble nutrients with slow-release action. You can mulch plants with compost, fertilize with mineral fertilizer such as Cererit, or make your own liquid fertilizer from, for example, nettles.
Fill Empty Spots in Your Bed with New Sowings
In June, you can still sow many types of delicious vegetables that will easily enrich your menu by autumn. Carrots, lettuces, beetroot, bush beans, peas, radishes, and more. Read more about June sowings in the article What to Sow in June?
Strawberries, Raspberries, Cherries, Currants - The Best Flavors of the Year Together
The first fruit of this year is finally here. Strawberries, cherries, raspberries, and currants are turning red. When you taste them, it's immediately clear why our ancestors named this entire month after them. You'll have plenty of work in the kitchen too. The abundant harvest needs to be processed quickly. Strawberries, raspberries, and currants can be frozen. Homemade strawberry jams or currant syrup are also excellent.
Harvest strawberries regularly and immediately remove moldy or otherwise damaged fruits. If you don't have the entire bed mulched with fabric or straw, you can at least prop up larger fruit clusters. This prevents soiling and molding due to contact with moist soil. If there's no rain for a long time, give strawberries a watering preferably early in the morning so they can dry by evening - moisture would increase the risk of mold and attract slugs at night. With once-bearing varieties, don't forget to remove growing runners.
With apple and pear trees that flowered too abundantly, you can achieve better quality future fruit by manually thinning developing fruits.
Spring Bulbs Need Holidays
With daffodils, tulips and other spring bulbs, you'll do well to dig them up at the end of the school year and replant them in autumn when school starts again. The comparison of bulbs to school children serves only as a memory aid. The right time to lift the bulbs comes after the leaves turn yellow, which usually happens at the end of June. After drying, take the bulbs on holiday to a well-ventilated room with a temperature ideally around 20°C. Store them in crates or wrap them in paper. Stored bulbs are harmed by heat and fluctuating temperatures.
In your ornamental garden, regularly remove faded flower heads from shrubs and flowers. Don't forget about fertilizing roses, as well as annuals in window boxes and container plants on balconies or patios. Tie new shoots of climbing roses to supports. June is also a good time to sow some biennials such as pansies, daisies or forget-me-nots.
The Lawn Shouldn't Go Thirsty
If you pamper your cultivated lawn, you won't manage without watering during hot June days. You probably don't need reminding to mow weekly anymore. If you prefer flowering meadows, you'll be delighted by a flood of daisy flowers in June. The first mowing is done only after they finish blooming.
Towards the end of June, the right time comes for pruning deciduous hedges. However, check beforehand that birds aren't nesting there. In that case, postpone trimming the shrubs. Useful feathered friends will richly reward you for your favour in the garden. You can also help them by installing a bird bath, which you should place in a visible spot protected from cats and predators.
