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Here is our monthly round-up of news, tips and ideas to make the most of your garden this June!
A gloriously busy month in the garden, full of colour, growth and the buzz of wildlife.
June brings the promise of sunny, warm weather – ideal for completing your garden projects, harvesting early crops, and enjoying your outdoor space in full bloom.
Here are some important tasks to undertake this month:
• Clip evergreen hedges – Privet, box and yew, as well as other evergreen hedges, should be clipped while they are in active growth.
• Check for dry soil – Assess your plants daily, particularly fruit trees and shrubs that are still getting established, to see if any need watering.
• Remove scarlet lily beetles – These bright red beetles will eat just about every part of a flower if they can – particularly lilies and fritillaries. Look out for the brown larvae they leave on the undersides of leaves.
• Thin out fruit tree branches – Although ‘June drop’ means that some fruit will naturally be lost, decongesting the branches of your fruit trees can lead to larger, healthier crops.
• Harvest lavender flower heads – Use the heads from your lavender plants in baking, crafting or to garnish your meals!
• Keep on top of weeding – Avoid the risk of plants having to compete against weeds for water, light and nutrients!
• Prevent wind damage – Continue to thin out clusters of hardy annual plants in order to avoid overcrowding.
• Avoid overcrowding – Provide wooden stakes for tall perennial plants to avoid wind damage.
We are excited to introduce Victoria, our new website chat agent! Here to help with your online queries – 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
June is outdoor dining and barbecue season. Take advantage of the warm weather and create an outdoor dining space to enjoy al-fresco meals and soak up the summer atmosphere.
Did you know that anything you can cook on a traditional grill can also be barbecued on a fire pit or chimenea?
We have a range of firepits and chimeneas in stock for all your outdoor dining needs – our fire pits come with optional barbecue grill griddles.
To light your barbecue, we have lumpwood charcoal available all year round. Our charcoal burns efficiently and at a consistent heat, making it perfect for barbecuing steaks, burgers and bangers!
If you love the flavour of wood cooked food, both our centres stock ready to burn, kiln-dried firewood logs all year round!
• Pak choi – Perfect for salads, this oriental vegetable can be harvested after 30 days, providing young leaves, or after 45 days for a ‘heart’.
• Broccoli – Late-sprouting varieties of broccoli, such as calabrese, can still be planted now and are best when sown into pots of multipurpose compost. When harvesting, cut the head before the florets begin to open, and the plant should continue to produce new heads.
• Spring onions – This space-saving vegetable can be sown now for harvest in autumn.
• Florence fennel – Begin sowing Florence fennel now for harvest around September.
• Nasturtiums – These colourful, edible, trumpet-shaped plants are easy to grow and make are a great companion for vegetable crops.
• Coreopsis – June is the last month for growing Coreopsis outdoors, though they are also one of the best plants for containers.
• Candelabra primulas – June is the perfect time to sow new Candelabra primulas seeds and create a vibrant display, as any that had been previously sown will have just finished blooming.
• Bedding plants – There is still time to plant out bedding and create a riot of colour that will last until autumn. Petunias, geraniums, pansies, dahlias and fuscias are reliably colourful favourites. Call into one of our centres for perfect planters, compost and plant food.
30 Days Wild is the UK’s biggest annual nature challenge, where The Wildlife Trusts invite people across the country to do one wild activity every day in June.
From planting wildflowers to attract bees, to simply listening to birdsong, there are countless ways to spend your wild month. Connect with wildlife, boost your well-being, and make a positive impact on the environment!
Find out more and sign up here.
Our Midgley Centre is the ideal destination for the whole family to enjoy – especially now the days are getting sunnier!
We have two nature trails of differing lengths at Midgley for you to explore, with historical facts about the area dotted throughout – follow the nature trail in search of magical fairies, designed by local artist Lanson Moore.
You can also visit our Little Acorn coffee stop – our vintage horse box turned cafe serves a variety of hot and cold food and drink daily, including locally-made Yummy Yorkshire Ice Cream!
BBC Gardeners’ World Live will be back from the 12th – 15th of June! This year’s line-up is set to include Monty Don, Adam Frost, Frances Tophill and Rachel de Thame.
Whether you’re an experienced gardener, a novice, or simply someone who appreciates the beauty of nature, this event has something for everyone.
There’s still time to book your tickets, learn more here.
• Broad beans – Seeds sown in autumn or under cover in early spring should be ready to harvest this month. Be sure to pick the pods by gently twisting at the base of the plant.
• New potatoes – Both “first early” and “second early” cultivars should be ready to dig up mid-month.
• Beetroot – Seeds sown in March will now be ready to harvest. Beetroot can be sown until July and harvested until October.
• Strawberries – Harvest from June onwards, make sure the berries are nice and ripe before picking.
• Spring Onions – Seeds sown in March should now be ready to harvest, keep sowing seeds every 2 to 3 weeks if you want a steady supply over summer.
• Gooseberries – If you want to try your hand at making jams or tarts, you can harvest underripe gooseberries this month. Leave some fruits on the plant to further ripen for July.
Give it a Grow by Martha Swales
In this beautiful and practical guide, Martha Swales makes it easier than ever before to start growing your own slice of nature with her collection of fool-proof projects.
You don’t need expensive tools or equipment, Martha’s approach is all about getting outside, trying something new and watching the magic of nature take its course.
Available from Amazon here.
“June is the pearl of summer, shining with warmth and joy.”
– L.M. Montgomery
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