plant it, grow it, eat it
A helpful guide to vegetable garden and allotment jobs in June.
The allotment in June is such an exciting time. All those seeds you’ve been sowing will finally have made it into the ground and you will be beginning to harvest your own crops!
If the weather is dry then you’ll need to be regularly watering plants.
Most eablished plants that are planted in the ground will be best watered well once a week rather than having daily light watering.
Thia will encourage their roots to grow down in search of moisture rather than staying close to the surface where they’ll become dependent on you watering them.
Read all of our watering tips here.
Keep on top of weeding this month tp give your plants hhe best chance possible.
Pull weeds on warm days and leave them to wilt on the surface of your soil.
If you have space then leave a patch of weeds like nettles and dock leaves as they can be used to make great organic natural fertilizers and they’re free!
Read our top 10 weeding tips here.
Mulching is great because it surpresses weeds and also helps to hold in moisture which is especially helpful in the Summer.
If you use a natural mulch then it will also improve the condition of your soil.
You can mulch with grass clippings, compost, straw, sheep’s wool and bark.
If you have problems with slugs then choose a mulch that will be less attractive to them although you may struggle to find a mulch that works well when wet!
Beans and peas will require tall supports. Tomatoes will also require some form of support.
You can use canes, sticks or string to build a support for them to climb. Make it strong enough to support the heavy crops they will hopefully produce.
If you want to be harvesting fresh produce thriugh summer and into autumn then you’ll want to sow some successions of your favourite crops.
Succession sow:
Arugula, beans, beetroots, carrots, spring onions, kale, lettuce, radish, swedes, spinach, swiss chard and turnips.
Get to know who the bad bugs in the garden are and take preventative measures to avoid issues.
Make sure you have fine insect mesh on carrots and parsnips and netting on cabbages (cabbage white caterpillars) and anything else that needs protecting from birds.
If you haven’t already then get some natural fertilizer brewing to use diluted on your plants.
We feed our tomatoes will benefit from a banana peel fertilizer.
You can add fertilisers once every 3-4 weeks once the crips start debeloping or the fruit starts to swell but it’s not entirely necessary if you’ve added lots of well rotted manure or homemade compost before planting.
Making sure that your seedlings are correctly spaced will allow them to grow to their full potential.
This post explain when and how to thin seedlings.
Harvesting regularly is important in June because with many vegetables, the more you take, the more they’ll produce.
Pick peas, salad leaves, chard, strawberries daily if they are ready. If you have too much to eat fresh then here is a list of vegetables you can freeze.
What are your favourite allotment jobs in June?
Amy is on a mission to demonstrate that gardening doesn’t have to be complicated. Her motto is ‘shove it in the soil and see…and usually it works