June 2006

June is the month when the foliage is at its finest and the borders are awash with colour and with the hope of plenty more to come.

The weather in May this year has not inspired us to want to venture out into the garden but at least the rain has prolonged the planting season. Keep filling in those gaps, with herbaceous and shrubs, when you see a space or need a boost of colour. Patio pots should be planted up now so that they are ready to bloom when the sun dares to come out from behind the clouds.

Now is the time to prune shrubs that flowered early in the year – weigela, philadelphus, kolkwitzia, lilac and deutzia for example.

As a rule of thumb, if the plant has flowered before Midsummer’s day then prune it straight after flowering. This is due to the fact that the plant will flower on old wood i.e. growth that it has produced the previous year. A third of the branches should be removed to open up the bush to light and air, and to encourage new growth for future flowering.

Keep on top of training climbing roses and pull off any leaves which have black marks (black spot disease) on them before it takes hold on the whole plant. Prune Wisteria after it has finished flowering, now is the time to prune it back hard and (if needed) carry out drastic maintenance.

Watch out for those sneaky weeds and don’t let them get out of control. It can be very easy to realise suddenly that the weeds are taller than the plants. Remember that one year’s seed is seven years of weed! Keep dead-heading all plants to encourage further flowering. Many hedges have got off to a great start with this weather so trim them when they become untidy.

The vegetable plots look luscious and tempting but watch out for those pests that try and beat us to the crop. Carrot and cabbage fly are prevalent in June so cover the carrot crop with fleece if you have a problem. Summer-prune fruit trees to shorten the side shoots of apple, pear, cherry and plum trees to six leaves of the base.

Plants for June; Clematis are in their prime with all types and colours of flowers. The classic bearded irises arrive in their flamboyant shades accompanied by lavenders and cistus.

If Chelsea has inspired you then have some fun in your garden. Purple is the new colour!! Happy Gardening!

Contacts
The regular "In the Garden" features for Monkey Magazine are written and researched by Cat Wilkins. If you have a comment, or would like to make a suggestion for possible future topics, please feel free to email her by clicking on this link: Cat Wilkins