What to do in your garden in June.

June is one of the coldest winter months of the year. It is a slow gardening month with the possibility of frost due to low early morning and evening temperatures. A month to consolidate on mulching with autumn leaves, bark chips and mulch. Protect your tender plants with frost cover. The planting of deciduous fruit trees such as Apples, Apricots, Peach, Plums and Figs is recommended now.

Flowers

• Lilium bulbs will be available for planting in June – look out for the local favourites like Avignon, Chianti,Connecticut King, Montreaux and Mont Blanc.
• Continue fertilising established winter flowering annuals like, Calendulas, Pansies, Cinerarias, Primulas, Petunias and Sweat Peas on a fortnightly basis with a balanced liquid fertiliser like Margaret Roberts Organic Supercharger or Multifeed Flowergro.
• Continue fertilising your spring flowering bulbs on a fortnightly basis with Hadeco’s Bulb Food, Margaret Roberts Organic Supercharger or Multifeed Flowergro.
• Bring colour indoors with Primula Acualis, Cineraria, Cyclamen, Chrysanthemum, tuberous Begonias and Kalanchoes.

Lawns

• Cut down on watering your dormant kikuyu lawn to twice a month only, no matter how tempting it is.
• Avoid walking on your lawn in frosty weather.

Vegetables, Herbs & Fruit

• Plant vegetable seedlings like Swiss Chard, Onions, Cabbage, Beetroot, Broccoli, Lettuce varieties, Onions, Garlic and Celery.
• Plant new fruit trees like Apples, Apricots, Plums and Figs.
• Plant winter herbs like Feverfew, Sage, Oreganum, Thyme, Chervil and Parsley.

General Tasks

• Protect tender plants against falling night temperatures with a light fleece covering or hessian.
• Restore your wooden garden benches, chairs, jungle gyms and wendy houses.
• Check the stakes and ties of your trees.
• Sweep up leaves to make compost.
• Continue mulching your garden beds with bark chips, saw dust, mulch and compost to provide a warm layer through the winter and to assist with the retention of water.
• You are still able to split perennials like Agapanthus, Clivias, Dietes and Cannas.
• Consider having lawn mowers and trimmers serviced.