June
Though the weather is cold, there are lots of jobs to be done in the garden in June!
- I try to remember to fertilise my spring bulbs now with a soluble plant food. Winter/spring-flowering annuals such as pansies also need feeding to keep them growing well, as do my vegetables: at the moment I am growing lettuces, snow peas and peas and I need to keep these free of weeds to avoid competition for food and water, and protect them from snails. I don't put out fertiliser on the main garden at this time, as nothing there is really actively growing - I'll wait till late winter to do this.
- I have discovered that this is a good time of year to severely cut back ornamental grasses, such as all my Miscanthus cultivars. If I leave it too late (as I have done in the past) the new growth will have already started to emerge in late winter, which makes it very difficult to cut back the old dead stuff.
- I like to cut back my perennial chrysanthemums and Canna to the ground and divide them up now. Other summer-flowering perennials such as Phlox, Rudbeckia and Aster need dividing too. I usually add compost to the soil to revitalise it before replanting the perennials. Leftover bits can be potted up to make new plants. Daylilies can be cut back to the ground - this tidies them up and fresh growth will emerge before too long.
- I like to take cuttings of cold-sensitive plants such as coleus and Alternanthera now in case a severe frost during winter kills my main plants in the garden. I keep the potted cuttings protected from the cold weather in a large plastic lidded box, which acts like a humidicrib. I use a potting mix based on a small packet of vermiculite or perlite, mixed with one hydrated cocopeat block. This makes a good medium for propagating cuttings as it drains well but also retains some moisture.
- I don't prune any of my warm-climate frost-sensitive plants such as cane and shrubby Begonia, tender Salvia, Plectranthus or Pentas now, however ratty they may be looking. If visitors are coming, I may very lightly trim them to tidy them a little but proper pruning will make them vulnerable to a very cold winter's night, which may maim or even kill them! I leave this pruning until mid-August or even later for some specimens. However, this is just how I do it - other people do prune now and they are probably a lot tidier than I am! I like to have the framework of the old growth through winter otherwise everything would be bare for a long time till it started to grow again, and I also feel that this also provides protection to the plant in case we do get a very cold spell. If you live in a mild area, it is probably less of an issue.
- If garden borders are covered by a thick layer of large leaves from deciduous trees, it is a good idea to rake these off and put them in the compost heap. The leaf layer can form a barrier to rain getting into the soil and can smother small plants. Rake off leaves caught in plant foliage as well.
- Sasanqua camellias can be pruned now (once they finish flowering, of course!) if you are using them as a hedge, want them to be more dense, or want to train them into a tree-like form by selectively removing branches.
- Watch out for the nasty black and yellow amaryllis caterpillar (also called the lily borer) which can be around at the moment, attacking Clivia and Amaryllis. Use pyrethrum or Success to get rid of them (or squash them!) as they are very destructive. Spray your citrus trees with Eco Oil to deter the bronze orange beetle, which can ruin your citrus crops in spring.
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