JUNE

ESSENTIAL JOBS CHECKLIST FOR JUNE

TOPICAL TIPS FOR JUNE

Flower Garden

June is one of the most popular months for buying perennials and shrubs – hardly surprising with so many beautiful plants flowering this month. Make sure all new acquisitions are planted with a good handful of your favourite Westland planting mixture. Water new plantings in very well and continue to water regularly – every couple of days if it's really hot – until the plants are established and making new growth.
Summer bedding can be planted out in your borders this month. Follow the usual planting rules, remembering that many bedding plants only have small root systems and very likely to dry out in hot weather.
Prune shrubs that have finished flowering, such as flowering currants, kerrias, weigelas, philadelphus and deutzias, by cutting back flowered shoots to a healthy bud. In mature plants, you can cut out whole branches that have flowered to open up the shrub and promote new growth. It's best to cut back about one third of branches each year in a three-year cycle. After pruning, water the shrubs well and give them a good feed using Westland ’ s Growmore or Fish, Blood and Bone
Evergreen hedges and topiary of yew, privet, box, and Leyland cypress can be clipped this month and given a light feed of all-purpose plant food.

Going Green

The outdoor entertaining season is now upon us, with this in mind there is now a huge range of solar lighting available to give your patio that added touch. Using these lights help reduce your carbon footprint

Roses

Continue to spray roses against pests and diseases where necessary
Dead-head large-flowered and cluster-flowered roses that have finished flowering- this will promote a second flush of flowers in July and August. Feed after the first flush of blooms with Westland Rose Food.
Shrub roses and once-flowering old-fashioned varieties do not need drastic pruning. Dead-head them unless

Lawn

Feed your lawn with Scotts Spring and Summer Lawn Food, if you didn't do it last month. If weeds or moss are still a problem use the appropriate product from the huge range of Scott ’ s lawncare range.
Mowing should now be done with the blades set low, unless the weather is very dry – in such conditions a medium setting will be better for the grass
Aerating your lawn will enable it to take up moisture as well as improving drainage, so if you didn't do it earlier in the year it's worth doing now. However, don't do it in really dry conditions – best done after rain.

In the Greenhouse

Keeping plants moist and protecting them from intense heat will be priorities this month. Paint shading onto the glass, and mist plants as well as watering regularly. You can boost the humidity of your greenhouse by spraying the floor with water each morning. Keeping the atmosphere moist will help to keep red spider mite at bay.
African violets and Begonia rex can be propagated from leaf cuttings. For African violets, push a leaf with an inch or slightly more of stalk attached vertically into a small pot containing a mixture of equal parts peat and sharp sand. For begonias, cut the veins on the underside of the leaf in several places and lay the leaves, cut side down, on top of a small tray of the same mixture. Fasten the leaves down with two or three stones or hair [pins. In a few weeks baby plants will be produced – these can be potted up separately into Westland Houseplant compost.
Plant up your Westland Instant Planter with your choice of crop. Keep the bags well watered. Bags should also be fed at least once a week with liquid plant food. If you're growing tomatoes don't use the Liquid Tomato Food until the first truss of flowers has set fruit.

Containers

Finish planting up containers of summer bedding. Make sure you keep them well-watered, especially hanging baskets and shallow window-boxes. Aim to water these once a day if you can, preferably when the sun isn't on them.

Vegetable Garden

You can start planting out young leeks this month – make holes with a dibber, plant the leeks then water without a rose on your can so that the soil is washed from the sides of the hole. Cut the tops of young leeks back by about a quarter before planting out.
Brussels sprouts, winter cabbages and sprouting broccoli can also be planted out
Earth up potatoes when the foliage is 23cm (9 inches) high. Drawing the soil up around the stems in this way will prevent tubers that form near the surface from being green and unfit to eat.
With a bit of luck you should be harvesting early summer cabbages and cauliflower this month.

Herb Garden

Many herbs will be ready for picking. Choose a dry sunny morning (before the heat of the day releases the herb's essential oils). Cut shoots and tie them into small bundles before hanging upside-down in a warm place. Once they are dry, strip the leaves from the stalks and store in jars. If you haven't really got a suitable place for drying, try using the microwave. Place sprigs or leaves in a single layer on a sheet of kitchen paper and microwave for 2-3 minutes, checking every 30 seconds. Cool, then crumble and store.
Another way of preserving herbs is by chopping them and freezing into ice cube trays. This is especially good for parsley, basil, mint and whole borage flowers. Add one tablespoon of water to each tablespoon of herbs.
Continue to take cuttings of rosemary, sage and thyme.

Fruit Garden

Apples will drop many small fruits this month – it's known as the June drop. Don't worry! It's nature's way of thinning out the crop. Gardeners can do even more thinning if a particularly heavy crop is being carried. This is easy on dwarf trees, but is not worth doing on large old standard trees.
Check gooseberry bushes for sawfly and mildew and spray if necessary