June Gardening Tips

Now that summer is with us, almost the most important thing to get right is watering. In an ideal world for gardeners, a preponderance of warm, sunny days is interspersed with the occasional day or two of gentle yet penetrating rain. That was almost how it was in May, with perhaps a little more rain than might have been ordered. Even so, by the end of the month and into the first few days of June, the soil was becoming quite dry.

If you are planting in these conditions, my hot tip is to "puddle in". First make sure that the rootball of whatever you are planting, whether it is a tree, a shrub, a perennial or a bedding plant, is well soaked in a bucket until no more bubbles are coming out of it. Then, when you have prepared your planting hole, fill it with water and allow it to run away. Then put your plant in, backfill with topsoil, firm in gently and water in with a watering can. This plant will have a huge advantage over one which has been planted with a rootball with a dry centre, into dry soil, and then watered on the surface.

After this you should have to water perhaps no more than once a week, which you must then do thoroughly. This approach encourages plants to put down their roots to search for water further down, rather than on or near the surface.

Another tip I was given many years ago and have found invaluable, is when planting tomato plants, to bury an empty plant pot by them-preferably one which is deep but narrow at the top- and fill that with water as a means of watering. That way, the water goes straight to where it is needed. I always use this system with courgette plants too.

My approach if I were planting something like a specimen shrub or a tree at this time of year would be to start in the same way, by plunging the rootball in a bucket or dustbin, "puddling in" and soaking the soil around it. For the rest of the summer I would leave a hose trickling onto it over an hour or two, once a week. Another important thing to pay attention to where trees have been planted in turf during the past year or so, is keeping that circle, about 2ft.(60cm.) in diameter, clear of encroaching grass, which will otherwise prevent rain from getting to the roots. A mulch of bark or compost will help to conserve moisture.

This advice will produce hollow laughter if we end up having a cold, wet June as is not unknown in this country- but is well worth heeding for the hot, dry spells which will surely follow. (Now, at the end of the first week, the rain has come, which, provided it doesn't carry on for too long, has to be welcome!)

In the vegetable garden

Carry on sowing short rows of lettuce and other salad crops, radishes and spring onions. If you want to speed things up, you can buy several different kinds of lettuce part-grown in trays and even mixed trays. You can also, of course, if you haven't grown your own plants, buy trays of Brussels sprouts, winter cabbages and sprouting broccoli, which should go in now. Plant tomato plants, with a 4ft.cane, unless they are bush varieties. Plant courgette and marrow plants. Sow more French beans-try the dwarf varieties which need no support. Sow more rows of parsley, dill, chervil and coriander-specifying leaf coriander, if it is the leaves rather than the seeds that you want.

Start lifting first early new potatoes when the flowers are over. Only lift them as you need them-they continue to grow rapidly as long as they are left in the ground. Pick over chard and perpetual spinach plants often, to keep the supply of fresh new leaves coming.

Hoe weeds in dry weather-you can leave them to die on the surface.

Fruit

Harvest culinary gooseberries for freezing, jam making and stewing. Dessert varieties will not be ripe enough to enjoy raw until next month, though they can also be used for culinary purposes.

Start thinning plums where crops are heavy, allowing for some natural fall by the end of the month, to 2-3in.apart. Apples may need thinning too, but leave this till the end of the month or early July, by which time the tree will naturally have shed some of the fruitlets.

Rub or cut out shoots of trained fruit trees growing outwards from the wall or support structure.

Bedding

Plant out your hardened off bedding plants, if you haven't already done so. It is always worth the effort of "dead-heading", ie.removing spent flowers-it makes a huge difference to the performance as well as the appearance of the plants through the summer. Bedding plants also benefit greatly from the occasional liquid feed.

Keep removing tendrils and sideshoots from sweet peas and tying them in with soft twine or sweet pea rings, at every other leaf joint. Above all, pick the flowers as soon as they open, to keep them coming.

It is not too late to sow annuals like Shirley poppies, Californian poppies, cornflowers, night-scented stock, etc., for a late summer display. Sow them on a well prepared tilth, in a herringbone pattern of orderly lines, to enable you to distinguish them from weed seedlings. They will soon develop a natural look when they have grown. Sow biennials like wall flowers, bellis daisies, violas and honesty now to flower next spring.

Plant out hardened off sprouted and container-grown Dahlias now, into well-drained soil enriched with well-rotted manure or compost. Put canes by them to provide support later. Look out or some new varieties to try-there are some spectacular ones about!

Perennials

Remove the spent flowers of Irises. Think about splitting bearded varieties next month. As Delphiniums grow taller, discreetly tie each individual stem to a cane.

Climbers

Clematis grow at a phenomenal rate at this time of year. You need to check them almost daily, tying wayward stems to supports, spreading them out as evenly as possible. They are very brittle at this stage, so it is important not to let them get into a tangled mess.

Hedging and evergreens

This is a good time, provided there are no birds nesting in them, to trim box, yew, privet, Portugal laurel, Griselinia, Lawson's, Leyland and Thuja hedges. You can also usefully trim or pinch back formal trained bay, box and yew.

Bamboos

Established clumps of bamboo are sending up vigorous new shoots, some as high as 6ft.already. Now is a good time to thin out clumps which are becoming congested, by cutting some of the older canes right out at the base.

Roses

Keep spraying for black spot once a fortnight-it's the only way to be sure! Roseclear will see to that and powdery mildew, as well as any aphids which happen to be around. Remember to spray in the evening, to avoid harming bees.

Shrubs

Towards the end of the month, as Weigela's, Deutzia's and Philadelphus finish flowering, prune them by cutting out a proportion of the oldest wood (up to a third of the bush) right out at the base. This will keep them compact and vigorous.

Elderflower cordial

Elder bushes in gardens and hedgerows are in flower, so now is the time to make elderflower cordial. It is one of the most refreshing of summer drinks, with a delicious Muscat flavour. If you use the pink flowers of one of the purple-leaved elders, it gives its colour to the cordial. Another thing you can do with elderflowers is to put a head or two in a muslin bag and put it in the pan when you are stewing gooseberries, to which it imparts its lovely Muscat flavour.