“Spring is when life is alive in everything.”

- Christina Rossetti

Spring is nearly gone by, just like that we are just about to turn the corner into summer. There is quite a lot of energy in the atmosphere in June, the verdant green of spring still lingers, plants growing up seemingly over night, the long evenings and early mornings. But there is a softness to it as well, we are not in the hot, heavy days of July and August, things are still fresh.

And though we had a warm and dry May, June has arrived wet and a good bit cooler. But whatever the weather has done this year, the gardens goes on as it always does and has been lovely as ever. The lupines this year have been outstanding, Iris as well. Our peonies are just starting to open and the sheer number of large buds on each plant is astounding. The large Alliums have been out for sometime as well as the chives, a purple dotted throughout the garden. May and June may be my favorite months in the garden, truly I love them all, but the late spring early summer is simply magical!

As I write we are having a bit of sunshine after days of clouds and rain. Well since I last wrote, so much has been underway here in our own gardens.

The retaining wall with the stairs and seat height portion are done! The grass below is growing in (thank goodness for this bit of rain) and the shrubs in the planting bed above are in, though I need to decide on how I want to plant around / under them… The driveway is now so much better and the entrance to the front flows nicely. Of course, we didn’t finish everything and we still have a list of things that will either be summer or fall jobs, we still need to add some drainage to change how water moves down the access road and put the finish material on the drive and access road (sea shells). I have done a bit of an update to the front entry garden with a few more plants yet to plant and a number of plants ready to be planted in pots on the patio…so many little details to wrap up in the front, but I can’t wait to finish the plantings up front, I just love this little garden space and working in it.

A small update to the back family garden grew quite a bit. We eliminated the central annual garden and instead focused on raised beds right around the greenhouse (truly the sunniest spot back there). This space is geared around the kids, each having their own bed, a bed for dahlias for them to cut, raspberries and blackberries as well as a shared tomato patch. We will see how they do on tending it. Instead of the central annual bed, there is a larger lawn space with deeper border gardens, creating a more open play space as well as building more privacy along the road and just creating a garden that is lovely to be in. I am so excited about so many of the trees / shrubs and perennials we have planted back there, there are still gaps, with more plantings to add, some I will be dividing form else where in the garden, or starting form seed or pick up form local nurseries over the course of the season. But perhaps the one of the plantings I have already enjoyed the most is a Japanese maple that I can see from the kitchen window, underplanted with hakonechloa, ferns, hellebore and a large leaf blue hosts. The water feature for the back is still in process, really there are so many ends to tie up, not just in the back family garden, but everywhere else. So many other garden tasks were pushed back in an effort to get the back to where it is now, so early June has found me a bit behind and at the moment feeling everywhere I look is something that already needed doing…

But I am trying to find the balance, we made some big changes this year, so we are behind in the normal garden up keep, and of course life is full of things beside our own gardens, the business, the family and all the fun things everyone is doing and the community we live in, so I am attempting to tell myself it will be lovely no matter if I don’t get to this or that or get those plants in a bit late…really attempting to take in my own advice that I so often give our clients!

You all have no doubt have been busy in your own gardens as well. But here are some jobs you could be getting on with in June!

The kiss of the sun for pardon
The song of the birds for mirth,
You're nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.

~ D. F. Gurney

JUNE 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 growing in leaps in bounds with the warm long days of Early June. As always there is so much to do in the garden this month, the earliest harvest the staying on top of the weeds so then don’t overtake the young plants, trellising, pruning, etc.

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 to take on this task in the early morning, listening to the birds and while the house is still quiet.

Keep a succession of lettuce going this month, it is better to sow 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. I typically do not direct sow lettuces, but sow in trays or modules and then plant them out when they are a bit more substantial.

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, cabbage, squashes, etc. and fast growing plants like radishes, greens, beets, ect. Can be grown around them and and that space utilized for the short time before those other plants take over the whole space.

Sweet peas, snap peas, pole beans, etc. will need help in clinging to their supports, so keep an eye on them and tie them in to keep them from toppling and breaking.

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. It can be a job, I know, trust me. But if you have the space, get a good sized pile of mulch you can pull form over the season. Work bed by bed to do a thorough weeding (getting out the roots and composting the weeds you pulled) and then follow that up with a heavy mulch. This will dramatically reduce the amount of weeding you will have to do as the season progresses.

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 upon itself to reduce the amount of fruit in order to allow for better ripening of the remaining 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. At first, it is somewhat mentally difficult 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

Right now our rose are just starting to bloom, a few have opened fully, but the majority are just starting to unfurl, but in another week or so we will be in the midst of the early roses! If you have rose, and if you want to extend your bloom season, it is good to deadhead regularly. 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 and perhaps you have a variety with really attractive hips that you use yourself or leave for the birds, and in which case, don’t deadhead. Rose 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

June is a good month to prune / shape your boxwoods (though I did mine in May due to planting out the garden and the dryness) and you want to do so when there are a few dry days strung together.

So while I have already pruned, I will go back and clip here and there over the month to tidy as I have time. And it is always my goal to give them some liquid seaweed fertilizer monthly over the Summer.

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, Rudbeckia, Columbine, 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.

Spring 2023 - April, May & June