June is often the month when people love to get out and enjoy their garden. The long days – June 21 is the longest day of the year – and warmer weather means the conditions are often perfect to enjoy some time outside.
Unfortunately, that does often mean there are numerous jobs – large and small – that need to be done. If you are overwhelmed with jobs that need doing, then help is at hand.
Jamie Shipley, gardening expert and managing director of Hedges Direct has shared his recommended June gardening jobs, including which plants to prune, how to care for your lawn and pests to look out for.
“June marks the start of summer in the northern hemisphere and this is when your garden will really come into its own,” Jamie said. “Plant growth in June is vigorous so watering, weeding and controlling pests should be your primary concerns. Maintaining your garden now can help you to avoid pitfalls later in the year and keep your space healthy and thriving. Here are my recommend jobs to get done in the garden this month:
Pruning – “Pruning early spring flowering shrubs – including weigela, deutzias and rhododendrons – once they’ve flowered can help them to maintain a good shape and produce more flowers next year. If you leave this pruning too late the new growth might not have enough time to establish before next year. Clipping evergreen hedges in June can also help them maintain dense foliage and good structure.
“June is in the middle of bird nesting season, so you must take care when pruning hedges, shrubs and trees. Make sure you check for nesting birds before pruning and if you see any signs of birds nesting, leave them well alone.”
Deadheading to encourage flowering – “Most flowering plants will produce more flowers if they are regularly deadheaded. This is because once plants start to set new seeds, they concentrate their energy on growing them instead of creating more flowers. Deadheading your roses throughout spring and summer will help to keep blooms going and support healthy growth.”
Watering – “Watering can become one of the most time-consuming jobs in June but you can save water and time by watering less often but more deeply- which can also help encourage deep-root growth in your plants. It’s especially important to give regular deep watering to newly planted trees and shrubs as they will need plenty of water in their first year to establish.
“It’s a good idea to have rainwater collection and storage in your garden to save the cost of watering, be more environmentally friendly and safeguard against a potential hosepipe ban. Watering in the morning, before the day starts to heat up, will also ensure that your plants have water when needed and reduce water loss through evaporation from the soil surface but if you see a plant beginning to wilt, water at any time of the day as soon as possible.”
Look after your lawn – “Mow your lawn once or twice a week through the summer whilst growth is vigorous to ensure thick and healthy coverage. Do not over-cut, particularly when the weather is dry, as this may cause damage or disease. Maintaining sharp mower blades will also help to reduce damage to your grass from mowing.
“Bear in mind that your lawn may need extra water during the summer months and If you have fresh turf, you must water regularly to ensure it gets established. If you have furniture on your grass, regularly rotate it to a different spot to reduce damage and allow the grass underneath to recover.”
Keep on top of weeds – “Weeds will grow quickly during the summer so it’s important to stay on top of weeding to prevent them from setting seeds for later in the season and next year. Persistent, perennial weeds such as bindweed, ground elder and mare’s tail should be pulled or hoed regularly. This will prevent them from being able to photosynthesise and gradually knock them back until they no longer return. Using a bark mulch will also help to suppress weeds and retain water in your garden beds.
My viewpoint on removing weeds is rather than using chemicals and negatively impacting your soil’s biodiversity, it’s best to go with a more ecologically-friendly method, if possible. Deep-rooted and persistent weeds can be difficult to kill, so that’s when you’ll need to resort to a weed killer. Instead of using a chemical weed killer, lemon, vinegar or rock salt can be used to dry weeds out and kill them through dehydration. These natural herbicides are “non targeted”, meaning they have the potential to harm all plants, not just weeds and will stop any plants from growing in that space for a long time so make sure to keep them well away from any other flower beds in your garden. I recommend only using these methods in paved areas to protect your other plants.”
Control pests
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Hellebore Leaf Spot – This is a common fungal infection that affects hellebore plants causing brown dead patches on leaves, stems and flowers. You can help prevent this by staying on top of weeds and ensuring good airflow around your hellebores. Affected areas should be removed immediately to stop it spreading. Always dispose of affected materials away from the plant, somewhere the fungal spores cant spread.
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Slugs & Snails – Slugs and snails can be a problem in June, particularly after rainfall. Old leaves dragging on the ground, dead plant matter on the soil’s surface and unruly lawns will all provide good ground cover for slugs and snails. Regular applications of nematodes can help, but it is costly, and slug pellets should be avoided at all costs as these can kill hedgehogs and birds. Beer traps buried into your garden beds are a cheap method, but they will need to be maintained regularly. Slugs and snails have a homing instinct that works over roughly 20 metres. So if you have a rainy day, go out in the evening and collect them and move them to somewhere over 20m away.
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Box Blight – This is a fungal infection that causes large parts of your box plant to die off. Correct maintenance during the summer can reduce the chances of a breakout in autumn. Clip your box plants less regularly to avoid encouraging dense foliage to improve the ventilation throughout the plants. Keeping your plant’s foliage dry can also help to reduce the risk of blight. Water at the base of the plant rather than overhead. Applying a bark or compost mulch can also help to reduce rain splash, helping to keep your plants drier. Infected plants should be removed and isolated immediately to prevent spreading blight to your other plants and it’s also worth isolating newly bought box plants for around four weeks before introducing them to the garden to make sure there are no signs of blight.”