Top Tips for the Garden in June

Roses will be flowering well now and should be dead-headed regularly to ensure further blooms. Make sure that the plants do not go short of water and treat any signs of disease and aphid attack. Visit our plant centre to choose from the many varieties available to add to your borders.

Our plant centre will still have a good selection of bedding plants to plant now for Summer colour. Look out for half-hardy perennials such as Diascia and Verbena, which will give loads of flower power through Summer until the first frosts.

Remember to feed your containers and hanging baskets weekly with a liquid feed such as Miracle Gro or Tomorite. Dead-head spent blooms regularly.

Climbing plants should be tied-in to their supports as they grow. Thin out woody growths from early flowering Clematis if necessary and prune back long current year’s growth on Wisteria. Reward Wisteria after flowering with a feed of general fertilizer such as Growmore.

Hoe between crops in the vegetable garden whenever the soil is dry. This will help to keep on top of germinating weed seedlings as they emerge. Hoeing also helps keep moisture in the soil.

Harvest new potatoes when plants are in full flower. Gently dig a distance from the main stems of the plants and pull the tubers from the ground. Fork over the surrounding soil to reveal the rest of the unattached potatoes.

Remember to feed tomato plants weekly once the first truss of fruit has set. Make sure the plants do not go short of water, checking them at least twice a day. Remove any side shoots as they appear on plants grown as cordons.

Compost any material from the garden and also vegetable waste from the kitchen. Layer-up coarse material with grass clippings and other finer material, in your compost bins. Add an activator such as Garotta to speed up the composting process.Give your late-flowering perennials the ‘Chelsea chop’ at the beginning of the month, pruning back the new growth by half. This will delay flowering a little, but create more shoots and flowers to give a stunning late show. Plants that will benefit from this include Asters, Veronicastrum and Phlox paniculata varieties.

Remember to keep an eye on slug and snail damage in the garden and treat with your chosen control method as soon as any problems are seen. Little and often is the key to slug and snail control.

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