June is a wonderful time for enjoying the beauty of our gardens, with flowers blooming brightly but the mixture of rain and sunshine makes everything flourish at once and quite easily the garden can become a jungle. Here’s a few considerations for the flower garden in June:
Thin direct sowings of hardy annuals (plants that only last a year).
Remove blanket weed from ponds by twisting it around a stick (like candy floss). Leave the weed at the side of the pond so it allows any wildlife to crawl back into the pond.
Keep your flowering tubs and hanging baskets watered. Remember that strong winds can be just as drying as hot sunshine.
Protect delphiniums, lilies and hosts from slugs and snails. There are many slug controls that we sell: traditional pellets, organic pellets, slug wool (a natural deterrent), nematodes (natural deterrent) plus gels and other products.
Take softwood cuttings of deciduous (plants that lose their leaves) shrubs like Caryopteris, Spiraea and Buddleja.
Add lawn clippings to your composter in small amounts, mix with drier material to avoid a soggy mess.
Liquid feed your containerised plants. You can buy ready mixed feed or concentrate for you to mix in a watering can. Always read the label.
Divide bearded irises after flowering. Replant sections that have at least two fans of leaves attached.
Stake tall plants like Delphiniums and larger lilies.
Trim topiary like Buxus (box).
Sow winter flowering pansies and ornamental cabbages.
Tie in shoots of climbing and rambling roses as horizontally as possible to encourage better flowering.
For further advice, our garden centre staff are always pleased to help.
