Monday 18 June 2007

June 2007 - Coming to Life

June 2007 - Coming to Life
by Bob Johnson
Sunday 10 June, 2007

June - the garden should be growing well now with all the rain we've been having.

Lawns If you fed and weeded it as I suggested in previous months they should now look nice and green and weed free, but if you didn't get a chance to do it you still have time, as long as there's rain forecast for the time after you've done it - so pick the day carefully! You'll now need to keep cutting your lawn every week now, so try and get into a routine. If June unexpectedly has long hot spells forecast with no rain then it's best not to cut your lawns too short.If your daffodils are only just dying, like mine still are, then you can cut them back once the leaves have gone brown.

Greenhouse All bedding plants, fuchsias and geraniums should now be planted out into the pots you want or the garden. This means that your greenhouse should now have a lot more room, to give your tomatoes the much needed space they require to grow, keep any side shoots removed from tomatoes and keep them tied to the support.If you have grown peppers then these can also be spaced out on the bench and if needed add a small cane to the pot to provide much needed support for the plant.You can still grow salad rocket in the greenhouse or just plant it in the vegetable garden.

Vegetable Garden Do not harvest any Asparagus for the first two years. In the third year, pick the spears from mid-April for six weeks, and in subsequent years for eight weeks.Courgettes and marrows can now be planted out into the garden. Don't plant too many as they soon get large and you will end up with too many. For a family of 4 I recommend 2 plants maximum.With all the wet weather we have had, keep an eye on the slug population, as there are a lot around. You can get natural predators (nemitodes) which you can get in garden centres or mail order companies. There are also slug pellets available - If you are worried about having these kind of chemicals in your garden there are ones on the market that are wildlife and pet friendly which contain natural ingredients, thus making them good for the environment.

Borders Just keep removing any dead flowers and keep weeds down, because with all the wet weather the weeds are really taking off! Any slug problems see suggestions in vegetable garden section.

Pots Keep an eye on any pots or hanging baskets that you have planted up because they soon dry up if (and hopefully when!) the sun comes out. If you did plant up any hanging baskets, as I suggested in May, then these will need a feed this month, to keep them looking good and flowering well. If you have pots with perenials or shrubs in then these should be fed too. A good natural feed is liquid seaweed, which you can buy concentrated and then dilute to feed.
Pruning Dead head any roses and tie in the new shoots. Keep them sprayed for greenfly and also any diseases.

Birds If you're having problems with leatherjackets then hopefully you've attracted some starlings to your garden by now, with all the tips from previous months. These starling are a natural predator to these pests so should help alleviate the problem. I'll be giving you some other tips in the autumn to help try irradicate them for next years lawn. Keep your feeders topped up - there seem to be many young birds around at the moment and try and vary what you give them. We recently added a feeder with nyger seeds in and the goldfinchs love it! We've also recently had yellowhammers come to our garden too. If you have a bird bath keep it topped up also (although the rain seems to be doing a good job with this recently!)