June in the Garden

Now that we've reached June the garden should be enjoying the long warm midsummer days. That is assuming we actually get some sun this summer - let's hope it's better weather than last year at least! Your plants in the ground will be growing away madly and the ‘hungry gap' between the late winter crops and the new season's produce should have come to an end. It's time to get out there with your basket and get harvesting!

There are also plenty of other jobs awaiting the gardener's attention. Firstly there is weeding. Weeds are unwanted plants that appear by themselves and given half a chance they'll be competing with your crops for space, light and nutrients. For large areas and between rows a good, well-sharpened hoe can slice through the weed tops quite effectively. This will kill off many annuals, but some of the tougher perennial weeds will just view this as minor bit of inconvenient pruning and be popping up leaves almost as soon as you turn round. Ideally these need the roots removing. This can be easier said than done as some of them have rather brittle roots that snap all too easily and will re-grow a new weed from the small section of overlooked root.

If you want to cut down on the amount of weeding you have to do (note ‘cut down', not cut out completely!) then you should look at mulching your beds. A mulch also does double duty as it can reduce water loss by evaporation from the soil surface - a handy benefit if we get a hot spell. Mulching is simply covering the soil surface so that light is excluded from weeds beneath it. There are a number of options for mulching materials - plastic or fabric sheets, opened out cardboard, thick newspapers, a couple of inches of compost or wood/bark chips for example. The choice is really down to what you can afford, what you can get your hands on easily and how often you want to have to renew the mulch.

Even with a mulch in place, a hot sunny summer can mean that you will need to do some watering. The worst option for watering is really the sprinkler. Whilst this means that the lazy gardener can turn his sprinkler on and then go off and do something else, it wastes huge amounts of water (which means money if your water supply is metered) and provides a rather uneven and indiscriminate coverage. Also because it is watering the leaves and soil surface it does not necessarily penetrate very deeply into the ground. This means that the water may evaporate before it can do any good. Your crops' fine root systems will often stay nearer to the surface, making them more vulnerable to drying out and disturbances.

A much better bet is hand watering, preferably from water butts of captured rainwater or greywater (bath water, washing up water, etc). Direct the water to the base of each plant, using an old flowerpot or inverted plastic bottle with the bottom cut off planted into the ground to act as a funnel-come-reservoir for larger individual plants. This gives you more control to give different types of plants different amounts of water - your rhubarb is less likely to shrivel up if not watered than your tomatoes for example. Rather than watering little and often, aim only to do it every few days. When you do, be generous with the amount so that it sinks down in the ground, drawing the plants' roots down deeper into the ground.

Assuming you've got some time left after dealing with weeds and watering, there is some sowing and planting out that can be done this month. Now that all danger of frost has passed the tender plants that you have lurking indoors or under glass can be placed outside and given some fresh air.

Sowing

Sweetcorn plants that you sowed back in late April or May can be planted outside in the middle of this month - grow them in a square block rather than rows so that they have a better chance of wind pollinating each other. If space is at a premium on your plot you can pop some climbing beans in alongside the sweetcorn and a few weeks later, once both of these have shot up, pop a squash in the bed to ramble around. The sweetcorn grows up tall to provide a support for the beans which in turn fix atmospheric nitrogen into the soil. The squash acts as a sort of living productive mulch. This combination is known as the 'three sisters' planting and is a traditional way of using these plants together.

Even if you don't opt for the three sisters method you can be popping beans in the ground now. I follow the old saying, ‘one for the rook, one for the crow, one to rot and one to grow' and so pop in more than one seed bean at each planting station. Beans like moisture round their roots so remember to pop some compost or well-rotted manure into the planting hole first, unless you were on the ball in midwinter and dug a pit which you filled with compostable kitchen waste!

Carrots sown earlier in the year may need thinning out so that the remaining plants have room to grow. If possible try to do this on a damp evening as this is the time when carrot root fly will be least active. Also remove the thinnings from the plot as the flies are attracted to the carrots' smell, which can linger around compost bins. The thinnings can actually be eaten - the immature carrots make a colourful addition to salads.

In the soft fruit patch you'll be finding delicious things to pick. However so will the birds so if you haven't done it yet drape some netting over the fruit bushes. Fruit cages are a more permanent solution but they tend to be quite expensive for smaller plots with only a couple of bushes. If you're really strapped for cash and can't afford garden netting, look out for old net curtains in charity shops and jumble sales.

Finally, find some time to sit down in your plot and soak up the atmosphere with a cool drink in hand. Relax and enjoy your growing space - you've earned it after all that work!

Jim'll

Red Bean Flower and Courgette Flower pictures (c) net_efekt www.everystockphoto.com 2009