June Tips

Care must be taken this time of year to ensure the greenhouse doesn’t get too hot.  Keep plenty of ventilation going to both encourage air circulation as well as cooling the inside of the house.  Shading as well should be considered.  Shading using interior blinds can be very expensive - a more economical way is to use greenhouse whitening on the outside of the glass.  It weathers well and can easily be removed in the autumn.  Also in the greenhouse it is important to keep a moist atmosphere which not only helps the plants but can deter some pests such as red spider mite, which only thrive in dry air.  Water the paths as well as the plants to create the “damp-feel”.

Keep an eye open for pests and disease—aphids in particular can be getting very active now, so make sure you have some insecticide to hand.  Action should be taken as soon as possible - a few aphids one week can grow into a major infestation by the next.

The vegetable garden should be soon producing the first yields.  There is nothing so tasty as freshly harvested vegetables and salad - enjoy it!  Leek plants should be planted out now - make a deep hole with a large dibber and drop a plant into the hole - there is no need to infill.  Sow swedes now for winter harvesting and it’s not too late for a further sowing of carrots (an early variety).  Late sown carrots shouldn’t be too bothered with carrot fly.

Baskets and containers should all be planted up by now - look after them!  Daily watering may be essential and regular feeding about once per week is beneficial.  A tomato fertilizer is ideal.  Also dead heading, although time consuming, pays dividends.  In fact, some plants - marguerite types in particular - will just stop flowering unless they’re continually dead headed.

Any early flowering shrubs that have finished flowering (eg Forsythia, Currants, Philadelphus etc) should be now cut back.  Cut back growth to a healthy growing bud and in an old established shrub, whole branches which are old can be cut right out to let light and air into the plant.  Cut out old wood by a third over a three year cycle.  After pruning give a good feed and make sure the plants don’t dry out.  Fish Blood and Bone is an excellent all-round feed.

Unless the weather is very hot and dry, the mower blades can be lowered but not too much - the lawn mustn't be scalped!  General lawn maintenance can be carried out as needed.

After the risk of all frost, many houseplants enjoy being outside.  Place them somewhere sheltered from the wind so that they won’t blow over and don’t forget to water and feed them.  Obviously bring them back indoors in late summer.

If you have Rhododendrons or Camellias either in the ground or pots, don’t let them dry out and keep well fed with an ericaceous feed.  When dead heading Rhodo’s take particular care when removing old seed pods not to damage the new growth immediately underneath.