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Here is our monthly round-up of news, tips and ideas to make the most of your garden this June!
The month of May finally brought us some much-needed sunny spring weather, and as we transition into June, the promise of warmer days can only mean one thing – summer is on its way!
June is a very busy month in the garden, with flowers blossoming, vegetables ready for harvest, and the weather optimal for starting your projects, there is plenty to do during the approach to summer!
Here are some important tasks to undertake this month:
• Clip evergreen hedges – Privet, box and yew, as well as other evergreen hedges, should be clipped while they are in active growth.
• Check for dry soil – Assess your plants daily, particularly fruit trees and shrubs that are still getting established, to see if any need watering.
• Remove scarlet lily beetles – These bright red beetles will eat just about every part of a flower if they can – particularly lilies and fritillaries. Look out for the brown larvae they leave on the undersides of leaves.
• Thin out fruit tree branches – Although ‘June drop’ means that some fruit will naturally be lost, decongesting the branches of your fruit trees can lead to larger, healthier crops.
• Harvest lavender flower heads – Use the heads from your lavender plants in baking, crafting or to garnish your meals!
• Keep on top of weeding – Avoid the risk of plants having to compete against weeds for water, light and nutrients!
• Prevent wind damage – Continue to thin out clusters of hardy annual plants in order to avoid overcrowding.
• Avoid overcrowding – Provide wooden stakes for tall perennial plants to avoid wind damage.
The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s ‘wildlife census’ is returning for a fifth year – get involved and take action for wildlife on your doorstep!
It’s fun and easy to take part:
• Head outside to your garden, neighbourhood or local park
• Spot, count and record the wildlife you find, for 30 minutes
• Start with The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s list of 30 creatures great and small
The count will help to show how wildlife-friendly our outdoor patches are across Yorkshire, giving an idea of how common species are faring in our gardens.
Find out more here.
• Pak choi – Perfect for salads, this oriental vegetable can be harvested after 30 days, providing young leaves, or after 45 days for a ‘heart’.
• Broccoli – Late-sprouting varieties of broccoli, such as calabrese, can still be planted now and are best when sown into pots of multipurpose compost. When harvesting, cut the head before the florets begin to open, and the plant should continue to produce new heads.
• Spring onions – This space-saving vegetable can be sown now for harvest in autumn.
• Florence fennel – Begin sowing Florence fennel now for harvest around September.
• Nasturtiums – These colourful, edible, trumpet-shaped plants are easy to grow and make are a great companion for vegetable crops.
• Coreopsis – June is the last month for growing Coreopsis outdoors, though they are also one of the best plants for containers.
• Candelabra primulas – June is the perfect time to sow new Candelabra primulas seeds and create a vibrant display, as any that had been previously sown will have just finished blooming.
• Bedding plants – There is still time to plant out bedding and create a riot of colour that will last until autumn. Petunias, geraniums, pansies, dahlias and fuscias are reliably colourful favourites. Call into one of our centres for perfect planters, compost and plant food.
We are delighted to announce our exciting new range of award-winning log cabins – hand crafted in the UK!
The new display cabins are already being built at our Midgley Centre, and will be arriving at our Brigg Centre in a few weeks’ time.
Our exciting and versatile Garden Cabin Collection is designed to ensure we can create the perfect garden cabin for you – whatever you have in mind.
Our Midgley Centre is an ideal destination for the whole family to enjoy – especially now the days are getting sunnier!
We have two nature trails of differing lengths at Midgley for you to explore, with historical facts about the area dotted throughout – follow the nature trail in search of magical fairies, designed by local artist Lanson Moore.
You can also visit our Little Acorn coffee stop – our vintage horse box turned cafe serves a variety of hot and cold food and drink daily, including locally-made Yummy Yorkshire Ice Cream!
• Broad beans – Seeds sown in autumn or under cover in early spring should be ready to harvest this month. Be sure to pick the pods by gently twisting at the base of the plant.
• New potatoes – Both “first early” and “second early” cultivars should be ready to dig up mid-month.
• Beetroot – Seeds sown in March will now be ready to harvest. Beetroot can be sown until July and harvested until October.
• Strawberries – Harvest from June onwards, make sure the berries are nice and ripe before picking.
• Spring Onions – Seeds sown in March should now be ready to harvest, keep sowing seeds every 2 to 3 weeks if you want a steady supply over summer.
• Gooseberries – If you want to try your hand at making jams or tarts, you can harvest underripe gooseberries this month. Leave some fruits on the plant to further ripen for July.
Planting with Nature: A Guide to Sustainable Gardening by Kirsty Wilson
This is a practical, easy-to-use guide for anyone who wants to boost nature in their patch and make the world a little greener. By re-imagining how we plan and use our gardens, we can all do our bit to support local wildlife, improve our health and help tackle the climate crisis.
Available from Amazon here.
“In early June the world of leaf and blade and flowers explodes, and every sunset is different.”
– John Steinbeck
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