June is a special month in the garden, it’s a time when there is work to be done but more importantly it’s time to enjoy the fruits of all the hard work undertaken since last autumn. All the pruning, cultivating, planting, tending and aftercare start to show as flowers, fruit and foliage combined in an exuberant display.
Enough of the dreaming there are jobs to do, although these should be done at a relaxed pace, take your time and enjoy the company of your plants and garden. I love this time of year, any excuse to potter around especially when the weather is pleasant.
As plants develop through early summer it is important to help them along with a little feed, if the weather is dry then I use a liquid feed, just a general ‘all purpose’ one. I mix it in a watering can at half the recommended dose and feed every two weeks. If the weather is a little damp then I tend to use a general fertilizer pellet, either chicken or sheep pellets they are cheap and organic.
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Many of the herbaceous perennials in our gardens grow quite rapidly and often need staking. I prefer to use material that blends in, long lengths or tree prunings or willow cut last autumn are perfect. I also use bamboo canes when I am short of natural staking material. I paint my canes with blackboard paint which strangely enough makes them almost invisible, it’s much better than seeing bright yellow new canes, and looks different too.
There are many ‘off the shelf’ alternatives but these can be expensive, I quite like the colour and texture of rusty metal which seems to compliment the texture and colour of most plants.
It’s also a good time to take softwood cuttings and if you have a small electric propagator these will root in two to three weeks providing additional plants for the garden or for friends. Taking cuttings from plants in the garden also encourages them to develop a more bush habit and ultimately more flowers. Penstemon’s are a great late flower border plant and this is a perfect time to take cuttings, select shoots about 4 to 5 inches (10 – 12 cms) cut squarely just below a leaf joint and place around the edge of a plant pot filled with a gritty compost and water in. If you do not have a propagator place the pot in a plastic reseal able bag on a shady windowsill. Check daily and open the plastic bag to allow fresh air in. Once rooted pot them up into good general purpose compost. With care and good growing conditions these can be planted out in mid-July and will flower in late summer.
Next month we will discuss summer pruning and plants to fill gaps in the summer borders.
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