June Gardening Activities

t’s not too late to start warm-season crops such as corn, beans, tomatoes, squash, peppers, and eggplant. 

Plant or sow summer annuals such as nasturtiums, vinca, verbena, geraniums, phlox, marigolds, lobelia, impatiens, cosmos, sunflowers, zinnias, and alyssum. Feed annuals and remove spent flowers to promote another round of flowers.

Additional pruning may be required in June of fast-growing plants, such as juniper, privet and yew. This will help promote new growth and also maintain a desirable shape during the growing season.

Cut back perennials like Shasta daisy, black-eyed Susan, cone flower, and lavender after first bloom to encourage a second round of flowers in the Fall. Cut back fuchsia, geranium, and margarite to encourage branching.

Stake tall, floppy flowers: foxglove, yarrow, bachelor’s buttons, carnations, and delphiniums.

Watch for insects everywhere! When you see them (and you will!), immediately wash them or pick them off plants before they can lay eggs and multiply. Use fungicide where diseases usually are a problem, especially on roses.

If you cut flowers for fresh in-door arrangements early in the morning, they will stay fresher and more vibrant much longer.

Lawns should get 1.5 inches of water a week. If Mother Nature is stingy, water deeply once or twice a week but NOT daily.

Here’s a good tip: spray the underside of your mower with a thin coating of vegetable oil to prevent grass from sticking.

Check the underside of rose leaves for rose slugs, watch for scale infestations on Euonymus and pachysandra and always inspect your lawn thoroughly for grubs throughout the growing season.

Continue to keep the garden adequately watered (that is, if June’s forecasted wet weather is not enough!). Expect plants to do well with all of the extra rain in July.

Be sure that all tall annuals and perennials are securely staked so that they will remain upright during the afternoon thunderstorms that are so common for this time of year.

Tick-proof your yard this summer. Deer are likely to bring ticks into your space so plant species that deer do not eat like the thorny barberry, bugleweed, forsythia, foxglove, and most needle-leaved conifers.

If you have to divide plants, give them a chance to recover from having their roots disturbed by keeping them in the shade for at least a week.

Always remember that when working outside in hot sun for any prolonged period of time, be sure to take salt tablets, drink plenty of water, and take frequent breaks in the shade.   

                                                                  For MONTHLY FARM ACTIVITIES, click here