May & June 2022
“And they both sat there, grown up, yet children at heart;
and it was summer, - warm, beautiful summer.”
― Hans Christian Andersen, The Snow Queen
It probably goes without saying, that I missed May, well, I didn’t miss May, but I didn’t find the time to write to you all about it. Likely, you managed all your May garden jobs just fine without my 2 cents, so I won’t include them here, but I will include some thoughts on the solstice and the the transition in the garden as we move from lat spring to early summer, a few thoughts on May, and then our regular programming of June musings with some jobs to take you through the end of the month. Happy Solstice and happy gardening!
The Solstice:
The late spring garden gracefully beginning her recessional and heralding the coming of the early summer garden.
Tomorrow we welcome the solstice, celebrating the longest day and the day where the sun reaches its pinnacle in the sky. Late spring and early summer tangle together in the garden as we hover on the edge, waiting to dive in. It is always a little sad to see the peonies gone by, the great balls of the Allium ‘Globe masters’ faded, the triumphant spires of foxgloves still lovely but halfway spent, the late spring with all its softness and freshness are fading. But I do love high summer, there is so much to look forward to in the the garden, every turning of the season (by which I mean all the smaller season within the more general four) brings a little loss, knowing it will be a full year until I will bury my face into the masses of peonies, or see those yellow bearded iris from my desk. But one can only be so sad, because there are so many strawberries still to harvest, the first of my cosmos are blooming, the zucchinis and other veg will be harvestable very soon, the roses are just lovely right now, and before long it will be the dahlia’s turn in the spotlight.
May
If spring could be summed up in just one month, it would be May, it is as if all the world was suddenly alive and so full of color and of growing things. The freshest of greens all bursting forth and the softness of the late evening light on the ever lengthening days fills one with wonder. Winter’s leafless branches and fields of browns are a fairytale, a long lost legend, surely things most always be so alive and green.
May is a month full of magic. I love the garden in May, full of bulbs and new growth springing up over night and the anticipation of the coming June and her peonies, roses, foxgloves, Alliums and so much more. It is hard to find the time to do so because there is just much to do in the garden, but when I get a chance, I love just to sit in the garden in the evening, listening to the birds and the buzzing of insects, drinking it all in. I also love to walk through the garden, before the house is up and see what new growth has sprang up in the night, to see the buds swelling and check on the seedlings, to feel the sun already warm on my face and to listen to the chorus of bird song.
June
June, what a lovely month is June, it has the warmth and fullness of summer, but the softness of spring and the greens are still so fresh and vibrant. It is late spring, it is summer before the heat. The days stretch out before us, the honey bees cover the catmint and creeping thyme, hummingbirds can be seen darting here and there around the garden, the magnificent peonies are blooming along with the spires of foxgloves and bobbles of Alliums. Bearded and Siberian Iris rise above their grassy foliage, the lavender is blooming, the large flowering clematis climbing up trees and trellising. The knautia macedonica mixing with the Penstemon on the slopes. The tender plants have all been set out and planted, the dahlias in the pots and in the borders as well as the cannas and the scented geraniums. As we move from early June and the late spring garden into the end of June and the early summer garden, the peonies start to go out but the roses pick up where they left off. The first radishes have already been pulled, strawberries need daily harvesting, the lettuce are ready and more need planting out, the snap peas come in mid month, there is just so much energy, so much vigor in the garden, the harvest is here.
Jobs in the Garden
The Veg Garden
We have left the ‘Hungry Gap’ (the period between the end of winter storage crops and the first summer harvest) and the veg garden is thriving. There is a lot to harvest and lots of little jobs to be done.
Tomatoes plants need pinch and tying up weekly, I grow mine as cordons, so for me this involves staking planting with tall bamboo canes and pinching out all side shoots and leaving one central stem and tying the stem to the cane at regular intervals and cleaning off any lower leaves that are near the grown or don’t look well. I like mornings for this best, ideal, very early, before the house is up and full of activity.
Keep a succession of lettuce going this month, it is better so less more often to keep a harvest coming and avoid being overwhelmed at any one moment. It you sow lettuces every 2-3 weeks then you will likely have a near continual supply.
Things like carrots, radishes, cilantro, dill, beets, etc can be direct sowed or sown in flat and transplant into the garden.
As much as possible I like to sow catch crops. There are many crops that are growing but still small in the garden, peppers, eggplants, melons, squashes, etc. and fast growing plants like radishes, greens, ect. Can be grown around them and and that space utilized for the short time before those other plants take over the whole space.
Weeds
With the warm temps and long days the weeds grow in leaps and bound around your garden plants and in the cultivated soil of a veg bed. It is somewhat critical to stay on top of weeding right now, otherwise young plants are likely to be overwhelmed. In a veg setting, a hoe is by far your best asset, combined with proper timing. The morning of a warm and sunny day is perfect, a sharp hoe will cut through the weeds and then they can be left to wither in the sun and then quickly raked up and tossed in the compost heap in the evening. In border gardens a large hoe may not be as useful as small hand hoes that can be deftly used around plants that aren’t planted in distinctive rows.
Thinning Fruit trees
If you have fruit trees you might notice this month that lots of small fruit has dropped from the tree, this is called ‘June Drop’, it is not a sign of anything wrong, but the tree taking it open itself to reduce the amount of fruit in order to allow for better ripening of the remains fruit. However, the trees does this indiscriminately, where as you the gardener, want to be a bit more selective about it. Ideally, you want to reduce the fruit on each spur to just two fruits that don’t touch each other. This reduction both helps both fruits to properly ripen as well as reduces the weight on the tree. It is somewhat physchomogically hard to pick off your fruit, however, remind yourself you are not going for quantity but quality in the fruit (which is why you are even bothering to grow it yourself in the first place) and you are also considering the long term health and productivity of your tree.
Deadheading Roses
I do this task several times a week, sometimes daily, I really enjoy tending the roses, but I think you would be fine doing it weekly. Dead heading rose will prolong the flowering season for your rose, because as you dead head, you are pruning, and pruning stimulates new growth, and that growth will produce more blooms. Don’t just pull off the head, use a pair of sharper pruners and cut back to a leaf. But you may choose to not prune your roses and enjoy them while they are there if you are looking for the display of hips in the late summer and autumn. The hips are edible, and can provide a late season interest in the garden as well as food for wildlife, there are costs and benefits to everything, prune or don’t, it is up to you.
Prune spring flowering shrubs
Spring flowering shrubs produces blooms on shoots grown the previous summer, so now is the ideal time to prune without ruining next years bloom.
Mature shrubs can be pruned harder, pruning out the oldest growth can be pruned right to the base, to encourage more new growth and slowly over time revitalized the shrub. For younger shrubs, you are pruning out weak or damaged growth and then for the overall size and shape. Keep in mind that you ought not to remove more than a third of the plant. With pruning comes a good time to weed, water, feed and mulch. At this time you can also take semi ripe cuttings for propagation if you would like.
BOXWOODS
I will not pretend to have extensive experience with boxwoods, I have only been growing them as a hedge for a year now and we have two box cones that we have be growing for just two years. So, we are still new to growing boxwood.
But, I have read that June is a good month to prune / shape your boxwoods and you want to do so when there are a few dry days strung together.
I don’t think I will be pruning them this June because I instead pruned earlier this spring, and I did that simply because I really felt they needed it and I just felt the spirit move me, no real justification. But I might go back through and lightly tiding them and then at the same time give them some liquid seaweed fertilizer.
Sow Biennials & Perennials
Spring and into early summer is a good time to sow biennials, growing them in pots for the summer and then they can be planted out in the garden in the fall, replacing this years biennials. One of the biennial plant that I do this with is foxgloves, I adore them and want to ensure i have the varieties I want where I want them in certain parts of the garden. Of course for a wilder look you can let your biennials go to seed and let them seed themselves where they may around the garden, and this I most certainly do and love the effect of it, but for some parts of the garden, I like to be more selective. Now is also a good time to start perennials as well, I have Lupine, Echinancea, Eurygium, and Delphinium seedings that I started early this spring and will keep potting up and will plant out later in the year. If you already start annuals from seed then there is no reason not to start perennials and biennials, it is a great way to have a wider selection of varieties as well as grow you garden for a very small cost. These can be grown over this season and when they are large enough can be plant out in the fall.