The longest of days and the brightest of sunshine make June a delightful month in which to enjoy strong plant growth and colourful flowers. The danger of frost is a thing of the past and it’s safe to plant outside all manner of exotic summer bedding and tender fruit and vegetables such as tomatoes, runner beans, sweet corn and squash.
Beds and Borders
Deciding which types of summer flowers are best for each area of your garden will ensure they grow much better and need less care and watering. For example, if you have areas that get full sun for most of the day, then you need to plant out bedding that can cope best with dry conditions such as petunia, phlox, French marigold, verbena, salvia, ageratum and alyssum. For shady areas choose plants that flower without too much sun such as busy lizzy, lobelia, nemesia, aster, pansy and antirrhinum.
You can encourage bedding plants to grow fast and bloom profusely if they are given a weekly feed with a soluble plant food.
Lawncare
While weeds can be dug out of flower borders, it’s next to impossible to dig out dandelions, clover and creeping trefoil without making a real mess of the lawn. Clean out weeds from a summer lawn with a special selective weedkiller that can kill broadleaved weeds without doing any harm whatsoever to the grass, or contact us and we can do it for you with professional products.
Depending on conditions which have been very dry recently adjust your mowing:
• Keep the cut on the high side if growth is slow due to dryness
• Lower the cut again when growth picks up
By adopting this cutting regime you can mow to preserve moisture, which is beneficial because:
• Grass is 85% water – removing grass therefore removes water
• Long grass creates a barrier between dry sun and wind and moist soil
• Long grass keeps the soil cool
• Long grass traps more dew and with low night time temperatures at present there are heavy dews about giving the lawn a daily drink
Patio Tubs & Baskets…
A favourite plant on most patios is the fuchsia, as it flowers non-stop all season and comes in so many different forms and shades. The trailing forms with blooms that resemble ballerinas’ dresses are ideal for displaying in hanging baskets or other raised containers where they look great trailing out of wall baskets and tall patio pots.
Grow your Own
For great results with tomatoes find a sunny spot against a wall to place one or two Giant Planters. Plant three tomatoes per bag, leaving a well around each stem so that subsequent watering is easier. Start feeding tomatoes with Tomorite as soon as the first truss has set fruit.
Watering vegetables may be necessary depending on the amount of rainfall that falls during June. Don’t worry if the soil surface dries out – push your finger into the soil to check if it is still moist underground. But if you see plant leaves beginning to wilt then watering is essential straight away.
If you would like help with any lawn or hard surface projects, don’t hesitate to call Greener Gardens on 0115 837 8439. We would be delighted to provide a no obligation quotation. Visit our website at: www.greenergardens.co.uk