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June gardening tips
June is the month when the garden really starts to look fantastic again. It's also the month to ensure re gular watering and feeding of your flowers and vegetable gardens, to protect growing plants from pests, and to keep the lawn mown regularly.
Hanging Baskets and Summer Bedding Plants
Hang your summer baskets and plant out tender bedding plants but be sure all danger of frost has passed in your area. If they've been protected in the greenhouse so far, harden off for a few days (in a cold frame for example) before planting out.
Early Perennials like Lupins & Delphiniums
When the flowers are dying off then cut off the old flower stems before they set seed to encourage a second flowering.
Greenhouse Temperature
Remember to open doors and windows in greenhouses as the days become hotter, your plants will not thrive in extreme temperatures. Place netting or paint greenhouses to shade your plants for better protection against the hot sun.
Vegetable and Salad Garden
Thin out rows of seedlings as they grow to their final spacings (see back of the seed packets). Water afterwarss to settle the soil back around the roots of the transplanted seedlings. Crops for sowing outside in early June include runner beans, dwarf French beans, carrots, marrows, peas, cucumbers, sweet corn, lettuce, endive, squashes and spinach.
Natural Pest Control
Pests attacking flowers, fruits and vegetables with a vengeance this month. Try natural pest control methods, either pick off any pests yourself, or encourage natural predators for the pests like ladybirds, lacewings, birds etc,. You could try companion planting, that is placing plants which discourage certain pests alongside plants which those certain pests love. It's not foolproof but it's chemical-free. For example, grow nasturtiums by cabbages to attract the caterpillars which would otherwise eat the cabbages. Chervila and coriander are said to deter aphids on lettuce, and dill attracts aphid-eating insects. These have added bonuses - they look attrative and are a tasty addition to the vegetable patch. Tip gleaned from John Cushnie - Grow extra basil in pots to attract any white fly in the greenhouse because they prefer basil to tomatoes. When well covered with the pest remove and dump the plant.
Bird netting
Protect your soft fruit bushes and plants by installing netting. Choose net with the right size holes if you need to allow access for pollinating insect though. It's a shame because birds help keep the slug population under control, but they know the exact instant your fruit is ripe and can strip whole bushes overnight!
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