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Gardening in Italy?→ June’s almanac for the Italian climate
ALMANAC · UK CLIMATE

The garden in June

June is peak season: roses, sweet peas and perennials are at their best, vegetables start cropping and the days are at their longest. It's a month more for keeping than for making.

The main jobs are watering well, deadheading to keep flowers coming, and staying ahead of pests. It's also the right time to prune shrubs that flowered in spring, so they have the rest of summer to make next year's flowering wood.

UK and similar cool temperate climates. Dry, sunny spells in June can stress newly planted and potted plants more than July heat.

AT A GLANCE

Spotlight: how much water is enough?

The most common watering mistake is little and often: a daily splash wets the top centimetre, evaporates by lunchtime and trains roots to stay near the surface, where they suffer first in a drought. Plants in the ground do better with a thorough soak once or twice a week — roughly a 10-litre can per square metre, or per established shrub.

Check before you water: push a finger into the soil to the second knuckle. If it's moist there, wait. Water the base of the plant rather than the leaves, which wastes water and spreads mildew and blackspot, and do it early in the morning or in the evening.

Pots are different: their compost can dry out completely in a day of sun and wind, so they need checking daily in summer and watering until water runs out of the bottom. New plantings, including trees and shrubs planted in the last year, need regular deep watering through their first summer. Established Mediterranean plants — lavender, rosemary, olive, oregano — rarely need any once their roots are down.

English lavenderOliveOreganoArum lilyCucumber Watering well ›

Jobs this month

Watering

A thorough soak once or twice a week does more good than a daily sprinkle, which only wets the surface and encourages shallow roots. Pots are the exception: in hot weather they may need water every day.

Water pots and baskets daily in hot weather; add water-retaining mulch on top. Watering plants in pots ›
Water new plantings and moisture-lovers such as callas and busy lizzies generously. Watering well › Arum lilyBusy lizzie
Water cucumbers little and often to avoid bitter fruit. Watering well › Cucumber

Keeping the flowers coming

Deadheading stops plants putting energy into seed. It's the single most effective way to extend flowering on annuals, roses and many perennials.

Deadhead repeat-flowering roses back to the next leaf. Deadheading › Rose
Pick sweet peas every few days and remove pods. Deadheading › Sweet pea
Pinch out zinnia tips for bushier plants and more stems. Pinching & stopping › Zinnia
Cut back hardy geraniums after the first flush for fresh leaves and a second flowering. Cutting back herbaceous perennials › Hardy geranium

Pruning after flowering

Shrubs that flowered in spring on last year's wood should be pruned now, not in winter — otherwise you cut off next year's buds.

Prune philadelphus, weigela and deutzia by removing some of the oldest flowered stems. Pruning shrubs (general principles) › Mock orangeWeigela
Clip pittosporum tobira hedges after flowering. Trimming a hedge › Pittosporum
Pick elderflowers on a dry morning for cordial. Elder

Kitchen garden

Early crops are ready. Keep sowing salads for continuity, and take the scapes off hardneck garlic.

Pick peas, lettuce and first courgettes young. PeaLettuceCourgette
Remove garlic scapes when they curl. Ornamental allium
Pinch melon tips after five leaves and train side shoots. Pinching & stopping › Cucumber
Sow chard for autumn and winter picking. Propagation: sowing seed › Chard

Sow and plant

Sow
  • Lettuce and salad leaves (in light shade in hot spells)
  • Beetroot, carrots, chard
  • Biennials: foxgloves, sweet williams
  • French beans for late crops
Plant out
  • Leeks and winter brassicas
  • Late bedding and summer containers
  • Pot-grown perennials, watered well

Watch out for

BlackspotDark spots with fringed edges on rose leaves, followed by yellowing and leaf drop.Powdery mildewWhite coating on leaves of plants that are dry at the root.Drought stressWilting at midday that doesn't recover by evening, and scorched leaf edges.

Questions

What time of day should I water?

Early morning is best, evening second best. Watering in the heat of the day loses much of it to evaporation.

Should I deadhead all flowers?

Deadhead annuals, repeat-flowering roses and most perennials. Leave plants whose seed heads you want for birds or winter structure, and roses grown for their hips.

When do I prune philadelphus and weigela?

Straight after flowering, in June or July. Pruning them in winter removes the stems that would have flowered.