This Month in your Garden – June

A colourful canvas

June is a great month for catching up on lots of little jobs and with the garden putting on a fine display you can see where there are gaps you would like to fill. You can still sow fast growing hardy annuals such as Calendula, Clarkia and Godetia for late flowering and thin out earlier direct annual sowings in fortnightly intervals.

Fill in the gaps in herbaceous borders with annual bedding and for attractive flowers later in the year it’s not too late to plant Anemone rhizomes that have been soaked overnight. Sow Alyssum and Campanula carpatica, and Dahlias and begonias can be planted out now the danger of frost has passed.

Lawn Care Guide – June

For the avoidance of drought

Where your lawn is concerned, June is very much a continuation of the May regime except it might be a drier month. By frequently mowing the lawn you remove a little more often which is beneficial for the grass.

This is the last month to apply a weed killer to remove broad-leaved weeds and if moss is a problem use a combined fertiliser and moss killer when you feed the lawn, following the manufacturer’s instructions. If weeds and moss are not a problem you can apply a high nitrogen summer lawn fertiliser if you haven’t already.

Lawn Care: Questions & Answers

Q. We have a lot of unsightly worm casts on our lawn. What is the best way to deal with them?

The Vegetable Plot – June

The plot develops

With the vegetables filling out the area there’s usually less weeding to do but keep an eye on patches with onions and leeks where weeds can get a hold, especially in wet weather. Watering is important when the weather gets hot so give the vegetables a good soaking with a fine spray every few days, starting with seedlings and plants in containers, on to tomatoes, lettuce and celery if you’re short on time. The big guns such as sprouts and cabbages will be more tolerant and need less water.

The Big Glut Recipe – June

Asparagus and courgette tart with peas

Three of your five a day, with fresh vegetables from your garden.

Ingredients

• 3 to 4 small courgettes
• 8 thick stemmed asparagus
• 2 tbsp fresh pesto
• 100g (3½ oz) feta cheese 
• 1 x 375g (12 oz) ready rolled puff pastry
• Olive oil
• Peas