What to do in the Garden in June - 22 Gardening Jobs to do Now

The month of the summer solstice, June is filled with long, sunny days. June’s birth flower is the rose and these spectacular flowers will be coming into bloom, along with peonies, lavender, hydrangea, salvia and decadent dahlias.

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From sowing salad crops and pruning fruit trees to planting delicious vegetables and harvesting the first of your strawberries, June is a productive month in the gardening calendar. Keep reading to find out what to do in the garden in June.

Image credit: @country_garden_jottings

Gardening in June: what you should be doing in the garden now

June is the first month of summer and it often brings sustained hot temperatures. As well as keeping on top of watering your plants, there are many other June gardening jobs to keep you busy.

The lawn

If you’ve given your lawn a good feed in spring, you should be seeing the benefits in June. Grass growth is at its fastest in June and grass will be coming into flower (bad news for hayfever sufferers). Give the lawn a regular mow – at least once a week to keep it thick and lush.
If you’ve recently laid new turf, you’ll need to water it a few times a week, daily in dry weather, for the first month or so.
This June was the hottest on record in the UK – if temperatures are high for long periods, weekly mowing won’t be needed but try to mow every 10-14 days.
Keep weeds in check by manually removing them or using a spot weedkiller.
June is an excellent time to give your lawnmower a little TLC – check the blades and make sure to remove any damp grass from the mower after every cut.
If your garden gets a lot of use in summer, it’s a good idea to give worn grassy areas a boost by watering and fertilising them.

Image credit: @amazingcarpathen

The garden

June can be a warm, dry month. You’ll need to water your garden daily during dry spells. Early morning or evening is the best time to water plants on hot days. Try not to splash the leaves as you sprinkle.
If you have a wisteria, it’ll be going crazy in June, sending masses of long tendrils out after flowering. Keep it in check by cutting the new tendrils back to around 20cm. This will help the plant put its energy into flowering again next year, rather than producing masses of green leaves.
As well as tending to fast-growing vines, keep vigorous hedges in check by trimming them every 6 weeks or so.

June is the perfect month for hedge trimming. Image credit: @jones.garden.care

Go for a June prune and tidy up shrubs that flowered in spring such as lilac, forsythia and weigela.
If you didn’t put plant supports in last month, now’s the time to stake perennials like crocosmia and peonies and support roses. Obelisks and handmade willow supports are attractive options.
June is a fabulous month for roses. If yours are suffering from disease, give them a spray. Also, look out for the destructive sawfly larvae which can decimate rose leaves. You can easily pick off the larvae or spray the rose with water to dislodge them.
Ever heard of the Chelsea chop? The beginning of June is the perfect time to give late-flowering perennials a trim. You can remove the top shoots from plants like echinacea, lavender, aster, campanula, sedum and helianthus to encourage bushier plants and more flowers. Cut as much as a third from the top of the plant with sharp shears to delay flowering and keep your flowerbeds looking neat throughout summer.

Get Chelsea chopping! Image credit: @the.garden.house

If you haven’t already (I can never wait this long!) it’s time to put colourful hanging baskets outside. You might have been growing seedlings in preparation, have one in the greenhouse ready to go, or you can buy bedding plants from the garden centre to make an instant hanging display. You can grow vegetables in hanging baskets too. Make sure to harden off any plants that have been growing indoors over a few days before they make the permanent transition to outdoors.
As well as hanging baskets, plant up outdoor containers and flower boxes. You can grow an impressive range of flowers, vegetables and herbs in containers.
Get your weed on! The June garden is full of vigorous growth and that includes weeds. Try to fit in a daily walk of the garden, picking out any rogue weeds as you go, it’s an easy way to keep on top of the weeds and stops them from getting out of control. Weeds like bindweed will need to be dug out as they’ll regrow quickly from left-behind roots.
You might be able to harvest lettuce, strawberries, radishes and early potatoes now.

June is strawberry harvesting time. Image credit: @leah.laughs

The greenhouse

You can pinch out any tomato side shoots this month. Just remove any new shoots that sprout between each leaf.
It’s time to plant out any tender vegetables like beans, courgettes, sweetcorn and tomatoes.
You might want to add some shade to your greenhouse to prevent leaf scorch on hot, sunny days.
Keep checking for greenhouse pests like snails, red spider mites and whitefly.
Make sure that everything in the greenhouse is well-watered and fed. Flowering and fruiting plants will benefit from a weekly feed.

Image credit: @violetgreydecorative

What to plant in June

June is one of the most productive and beautiful months in the gardening calendar. The garden should be looking resplendent with blooming flowers and bushes and (hopefully) a thick, lush lawn.

June is also a safe time to plant everything outside because frosts will be a distant memory. Keep reading to find out what fruit, vegetables and flowers you can sow and plant out in your June garden.

Vegetables to plant in June

Wondering what to sow in June? here’s our pick of the bunch to sow in your garden or allotment:

SOW

Beetroot – Sow seeds where they are to grow in a sunny spot. Cover seeds with an inch of compost.

Cucumbers – Outdoor varieties can be sown outside in a warm sunny patch or a large pot. Cover the seed with an inch of soil. Cucumbers like fertile soil so add in plenty of compost.

Lettuce and salad leaves – Sow seeds directly outside in rows.

French beans – Sow seeds in pots in a warm spot before transferring the seedlings into the ground. Nasturtium flowers are great companion plants for beans – read more about them below.

Pak Choi – This easy-to-grow plant can be sown in large pots or into the ground and should germinate quickly.

Peas – Sow peas roughly 3 inches apart into a shallow trench then cover with soil. Make sure you have stakes ready to go!

Radishes – Very easy to grow (great for children) and ready in as little as 4 weeks, sow radish seeds directly into the soil.

Runner beans – Sow beans directly into the ground, about 2 inches deep. Runner beans will also grow well in large containers.

Pumpkin and Squash – For an autumn feast, sow pumpkin and squash seeds outside now. They’ll need to be spaced at least 3 feet apart and covered with a cloche until they germinate.

Image credit: @plot_162

PLANT OUT

If you’ve started growing vegetable plants indoors, here’s a list of what you can plant outside in June:

Beans (runner and French) – Read more about growing beans.

Brussels sprouts

Cabbage – discover more about growing cabbage.

Celery

Courgettes

Cucumbers – learn more about growing cucumbers.

Sweetcorn – read more about growing sweetcorn.

Tomatoes – find out more about growing tomatoes.

Make sure to harden off young vegetable plants over a few days, gradually extending the time they spend outside before planting them out. It’s a good idea to feed young vegetable plants weekly, they’ll also need watering regularly.

Young sweetcorn ready for planting out. Image credit: @harvest0622

Flowers to plant in June

To keep your garden in bloom for weeks on end, these are some of the seeds to plant in June which will flower in late summer and early autumn:

Canterbury bells – These sweet little flowers can be sown with just the tiniest covering of soil. They’ll need to be kept moist to germinate.

Coreopsis – You can plant long-flowering coreopsis seeds straight into your garden where they are to grow. Cover seeds with a thin layer of soil and keep them moist.

Delphiniums – These show-stopping, tall flowers look incredible at the back of a border. Sow seeds in pots from Feb to June.

Nasturtiums – Easy to grow, these colourful little flowers can be planted as companions next to beans or used to fill up empty spaces in borders. They’ll also climb up a trellis. Nasturtiums are edible and they’re a fantastic addition to salads and perfect for decorating summer cakes and desserts.

Sweet williams – Sow sweet williams seeds in June for flowers next year. They can be started in pots.

Sunflowers – Perfect for kids, these cheery flowers can still be sown in June. Plant seeds at the beginning of the month. You can pop the seeds into the soil where they are to grow or sow in large containers.

Image credit: @twigsandvines

You can now plant out any flower seedlings that you’ve started indoors like daisies, strawflowers and cosmos. June is a great time for planting colourful shop-bought bedding plants like petunias, alstroemeria, dahlias and geraniums.

Watch out for slugs and snails who love to nibble on new shoots. You can use plastic bottles that are cut off at the top and place them over the seedlings to protect the leaves while they establish, or try some of our other suggestions for keeping snails out of the garden.

Conclusion

The month of June is when you can really begin to reap the fruits of your gardening efforts earlier in the year, both figuratively and literally.

Admire the beautiful blooms, taste the fruit, vegetables and salads of your first harvests and keep on top of watering, mowing, deadheading and pruning to keep your garden looking gorgeous throughout summer and beyond.