JUNE With spring slipping into summer, borders are becoming more colourful. Waking water gardens croak with active frogs and boggy patches are carpeted with candelabra primulas. "The elders, water-elders, wild geulder roses, foxgloves, and other solstitial plants begin to be in bloom". ~Gilbert White, 1778~ Has the weather kept you from getting some of your spring gardening projects completed? Early June is not too late to get your summer gardening underway. Adding color, pruning, controlling slugs, dividing perennials, planting vegetables and eliminating weeds, head the list of things to do in June. "What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer, the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months, and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade". ~Gertrude Jekyll~ "I wonder what it would be like to live in a world where it was always June." ~L.M. Montgomery~ BULBS, SHRUBS and TREES Use foliar feed to strengthen shrubs damaged by the winter. If you wish to lift bedding tulips, do so when the leaves and flower stems are brown and papery. Young plants of Mediterranean aromatics, such as rosemary, lavender and curry plant, will also benefit greatly from having the main shoots pinched out in early summer. Take cuttings of the hardy perennial wallflower 'Bowles Mauve'. Cut down the old flowered stems of euphorbias that have done their bit for the season. This is a job that requires gloves and long sleeves, as the milky sap, which runs very freely, is highly irritant to the skin. If it drips on you, wash it off immediately. Herbaceous euphorbias that have been badly attacked by mildew this year can be cut back close to the ground and the stems destroyed. Then apply a weak liquid seaweed feed to the soil. Fast-growing hedges such as Lonicera nitida, privet, cypress and pyracantha need pruning now. Aim to make the top of the hedge slightly narrower than the bottom, so that light can reach the lowest branches and keep them furnished in leaves. Garden centres are full of flowering clematis, ideal for instant colour. But how do you keep them alive? Plant in a bright, open position in a deep bed of soil. Work plenty of compost or a proprietary shrub-planting medium, and a handful of calcified seaweed, into the planting hole. Plant deeply, 18in, away from walls or fences, and water regularly. Cover the surface with old roof tiles or a mulch to help keep roots cool. Lavender flowers can be harvested for drying. Choose a dry morning, gather long stems and hang them upside-down in a warm, dark room for a month. Summer plantings of shrubs are possible if you use container grown plants. Water newly planted shrubs frequently. Put up stakes or guards to protect young trees from lawnmower damage. Spring-flowering shrubs, such as deutzia, weigela, viburnum and forsythia, should be pruned as soon as they finish flowering. Mid- to late-June is an excellent time to take softwood cuttings of shrubs to start new plants. Some shrubs propagated in this manner are spirea, boxwood and azalea. Take care that newly planted trees and shrubs receive a thorough soaking each week. Soak the ground, do not sprinkle it lightly. Mulch to conserve moisture. It is also helpful to make a shallow depression around plants to collect water. Additional pruning may be required this month on fast-growing plants, such as juniper, privet and yew, to maintain a desirable shape during the growing season. The foliage of early-flowering spring bulbs should be left to die back naturally so these bulbs can produce storage products to allow them to remain strong for next year. Cut back unwanted growth on clematis montana after flowering. FLOWER, GRASSES AND ROSES For better growth, give liquid tomato feed fortnightly to summer-flowering clematis. Dead-head perennial wallflowers such as 'Bowles Mauve' to prolong the flowering season. Potted indoor azaleas can now be plunged outdoors in a half-shaded border. Water well after planting and remember not to let them dry out. Watch for mildew on susceptible ornamentals and spray, eg, acanthus, centaurea, bergamot, Michaelmas daisies, honeysuckle, roses. Honeysuckle is especially susceptible to mildew in hot and sunny weather. Water gladioli generously, and stake them with a cane if appropriate. Watch for aphids on show gladioli, spray as necessary. Spread a 2in mulch of composted bark around dahlias to help keep the roots moist. Apply a weekly liquid feed and paint a broad band of Vaseline or insect-barrier glue around the stems to keep earwigs out of the flowers. Aubrietas, having flowered so well in recent weeks, can be trimmed back now with shears. This will prevent the plants becoming overgrown or gaunt, and encourage new growth for next year. Use the trimmings to select short, vigorous pieces, with some of the old material attached at the base, to pot up in a gritty seed and cuttings compost. Tie down the rapidly growing stems of climbing roses, training them horizontally, to encourage more flower-buds. Try growing hostas in terracotta pots, this helps to lift them clear of munching slugs and snails. Hostas like rich, moist soil, so paint the pot interior with masonry sealant and add water-gel crystals (from garden centres) to the potting compost. Cover the soil surface with sharp grit to help a bit to deter slugs further. If there is heavy rain, prevent herbaceous plants from keeling over by propping them up with extra canes wherever necessary, linked with a dull-coloured twine or raffia, neatly tied. Spare ground in the kitchen garden can be used to sow biennials for next year. Wallflowers, Iceland poppies (Papaver nudicaule) in pretty pastel shades and silver-grey Eryngium giganteum are worth growing in quantity. Once bearded irises have flowered, large clumps can be dug up and split. Select the most vigorous rhizomes with one or two fans attached and replant, in full sun, with the tops of the rhizomes just showing. Cut the leaves back by half, to prevent wind rock while the shallow roots get a grip. For a miniature cottage garden in a sunny window box, try these easy bedding plants... blue-violet spires of Salvia farinacea, golden-leaved marjoram and feverfew. Add a sprinkling of Nemesia 'Sun Drops' and some trailing portulaca along the front for instant cheer. Miniature roses can be propagated from stem cuttings. Take cuttings with four leaves and insert them into pots filled with moist potting soil. Rooting hormone is optional. Place whole pot in a perforated plastic bag and place in a shady spot. Water as needed. By autumn, cuttings should be rooted. Prune off old blossoms from grandifloras and hybrid teas to keep them flowering all summer. On ramblers and small-flowered roses, remove canes right after blooming. Prune rambling and climbing roses immediately after blooming. Climbing roses don't really climb, they have long canes that require support. You'll need to loosely tie the canes to trellises with broad strips of material. Do not use wire, it can damage the cane. Time to divide the spring flowering perennials like, Primroses, Arabis, Aubrietia, Doronicum daisies. June, July, August and September are the months for starting any of the perennials from seed. Sow the seeds directly into the garden. Roses will need to be fertilized monthly this summer. It is in June that our tuberous begonias can be planted out. It is also time to finish planting tubs and other containers. Tough houseplants can be moved outdoors into a shady spot. Planting of annuals should be completed. Dead head sweet peas, and remove flowers as they open to bring into the house to enjoy. Deadhead annuals to encourage more flowers. Cut down sweet williams and foxgloves after flowering to get another year of life. Lift old plants of forget-me-not and lay on soil out of the way; seedlings will emerge. Or what I do is shake the old plant all over the garden where I want the seeds to drop. Pinch your Chrysanthemum's to encourage them to be bushier and have more blossoms. Pinch them again, every 6 inches or so, as they grow. VEGETABLE, FRUIT and HERBS Make successional sowings of beetroot, turnips and runner beans. Watch for slug damage to the young seedlings. Sow more parsley for late summer/autumn cropping. Parsley is slow and erratic to germinate, and sometimes it is simpler to buy seedlings at a garden center and prick them out into a row. Keep strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries and currants well supplied with water while the fruits are swelling and ripening. On dry, light soils a heavy watering now will help to swell early potatoes, bringing forward a useful crop by a couple of weeks. Hand weed onions to avoid root damage, the smell of which will bring in onion fly. Summer prune side shoots on gooseberries and white and redcurrants back to five leaves after harvesting. Blackcurrants may be picked more easily by pruning at the same time, cutting out 30% of the older flowered wood to make room for new shoots, and picking the berries from the cut shoots at your leisure. Home-grown peppers and aubergines need the sunniest part of the greenhouse and can be planted now, into growing-bags or large pots. Ensure they get plenty of ventilation and plug in a fan on bright days, if necessary. Continue sowing French beans, courgettes, marrows, carrots, beetroot, squashes and salads. Outdoor tomatoes, sweetcorn and runner-beans started off under glass can now be planted out. Asparagus beds must be left to grow uncut from now until the end of the season. This allows the ferns to grow and return energy to the roots for next year's crops. Apply a top-dressing of general fertiliser and weed as needed. It is now late enough in the season to start any of the warm weather vegetables, including Corn, Beans, Peppers, Egg Plant, Tomatoes, Squash, Pumpkins, etc. If you haven't had a chance to sow some of these crops yet, it is not too late to get them started now. Be sure to get these crops started as soon as possible. Tap tomatoes to encourage pollination; water every day and start feeding weekly once fruits set. Cut out excessive growth of new Raspberry canes. Tie in canes being retained to fruit next year. Pick small Gooseberries to encourage larger growth on others. Pick as fruits ripen, net to keep off birds, prune sideshoots back to 5 leaves or a little harder if growth is vigorous. Lay straw or newspaper between rows of strawberries, and net against birds, peg down runners for later transplanting. After June drop, reduce clusters of apples by half, remove apples fallen in June drop and any misshapen fruits. Spray for aphids. Place codling moth traps in trees, spray against scab and mildew. Mound the soil up around your potato plants. It does no harm to the plant if the soil covers the stem. Tubers near the surface which are exposed to sunlight will turn green and poisonous. As early potatoes begin to die back, reduce watering. Allow one or two runners to develop from the most productive strawberry plants. LAWN, POND and GREENHOUSE Apply granular summer feed to weak lawns, avoiding application when the grass is dry at the root. Lift up patches of clover with a wire rake before mowing so the blades can take off the runners. Rough grass containing daffodils may begin to be mown off now, even if the foliage is not absolutely yellow. Late spring and early summer is the time to fertilize the lawn again. This is also an excellent time to eliminate lawn weeds. It's not too late to reseed or over-seed the lawn with new lawn seed. If temperatures range much above 65 degrees, it will be too late to apply moss killers. Thatching should also wait until autumn. However, there is still plenty of time to perforate/aerate the lawn, if it is needed. LITTLE EXTRA'S Where a regular programme of fungicidal sprays is used, perhaps on apples or roses, vary the make and chemical ingredient so that the disease does not develop immunity to any one fungicide. When you buy container-grown nursery stock, check the root ball, and make sure it is not bound too tightly. A mass of circling roots will stay that way even after it is in the ground. June is the month often set aside for shaping evergreens. In fact, this is the month the commercial tree growers shape their Christmas trees. So it is a good month for shearing, pinching or pruning junipers, cypress or conifers. Also, this is the time to pinch back annuals, fuchsias, geraniums and any other plants that might be getting too leggy or misshapen. Some of the plants that have suffered freeze damage this past winter will probably benefit from a light feeding at this time. In fact, one of the best times to fertilize plants like rhododendrons, camellias and azaleas is immediately after they have finished flowering. Use a 'Rhododendron' or 'Evergreen' type fertilizer to feed evergreens and a 'Rose' or 'Vegetable Garden' type food to feed Roses, perennials, vegetables and deciduous trees and shrubs. Change the water in your bird bath regularly. Standing water may become a breeding ground for mosquito larvae. I have removed my guestbook for the moment, but do write to me via e-mail if you wish, would love to hear from you. Enjoy your gardening this month both indoors and outdoors. FastCounter by bCentral