Gardening Ideas for June 2011
This is the month of the
rose, opening from exquisite buds to fill our gardens with
silky-petalled, fragrant blooms. Some gardeners have a love-hate
relationship with them, because although their flowers are
undeniably lovely, the plants themselves are not so pretty,
especially in autumn and winter. I start enjoying ours in late
February, when they're pruned, fed and mulched. Shortly after,
their new shoots swell and grow into a fresh and very spring-like
bright green or bronze. We have problems with rabbits eating out
the bottoms of the plants and deer taking the tops, so we have the
extra job of spraying ours with a deterrent called Grazers which
keeps these large pests off.
Now's a good time to plan more roses, because you can look
around and decide whether a miniature patio type, bush, shrub,
climber or rambler would suit your garden best. Visit local rose
gardens to note favourites for colour and fragrance but ask the
gardeners there which are the strongest and most disease resistant.
Roses can suffer from black spot, mildew and rust and if, like me,
you decide not to spray them, it's important to choose very
healthy roses and grow them well.
There are, literally, thousands to choose from, so here are a few
of my personal favourites. One rambler? 'Madame Alfred
Carriere' for the large, sweetly scented cupped blooms of
white, lightly tinged with pink. A climber? It could be apricot
'Compassion' or red 'Dublin Bay', but my number one
is another red, 'Etoile de Hollande' which has never failed
me as a garden plant. The large, sumptuous crimson flowers are
richly fragrant, produced all summer and look great with
honeysuckle. Shrub roses are easy to add into mixed borders and the
musk rose 'Penelope' is a favourite here. English shrub
roses are popular these days and I'd go for yellow 'Graham
Thomas' for its strength and flower power. I don't grow
many hybrid teas but fragrant, coppery 'Just Joey' is a
good doer.
Enjoy your roses to the full, cut away their faded flowers as they
finish to encourage more (if they repeat) and give them another
feed and mulch (over moist soil) this month.
What to do now
in the kitchen garden......
- Keep strawberries
well watered during droughts, or they'll have trouble setting
their fruit. Net them against birds, but make sure pollinating
insects can still access remaining open flowers.
- Buy and plant tender crops like runner beans,
sweet corn, marrows, courgettes, outdoor cucumbers and pumpkins
early in the month. Set them in good soil and water in well.
- Plant Brussels sprouts, kale, winter cabbage,
sprouting broccoli and other winter hardy brassicas. Make a wide
shallow drill and plant along the bottom for easier watering and so
soil will fall in and support the plants.
in the flower garden......
- Sow foxgloves now
to plant in autumn and bloom next May/June. They look great with
roses, or around an old apple tree, or silver birch for a relaxed,
woodland look at the bottom of a garden.
- Bedding plants in containers will have used all the nutrients in their compost, so now's the time to feed weekly with a well-balanced liquid fertiliser. Or push in plugs of slow-release fertiliser.
- Prune shrubs that flowered in spring, such as Japanese quince (Chaenomeles). Flowered shoots are best shortened back, especially on plants trained against walls and fences. On others (Kerria, weigela) thin out one third of the oldest stems.
and in general......
- Keep ponds tidy by trimming back old flower stems and flopping foliage on plants like marsh marigold. Top up during droughts. Adding small amounts of tap water won't upset the balance.
- Trim lawn edges
regularly. This stops grasses and weeds growing into the border and
keeps them neat and crisp.
- Take cuttings of your favourite plants from now till August, starting with pinks. Most cuttings root easily in a 50:50 multipurpose compost and sharp sand or grit mixture. Water them in, cover with polythene to prevent moisture loss and, crucially, keep them out of full sun.
Q and A:
Q: The asparagus fern in my kitchen has produced a stem of pretty, white, starry flowers. Is this unusual?
A: Asparagus, though
often referred to as 'fern' is not a true fern (they
produce spores, not flowers) and will bloom, though this is unusual
indoors. Plants usually do so when they are established in their
pots, experience a cooler, slightly drier winter and have
reasonably good light.
Q: I raised some aster plants this year, planted them out and though they grew well, they are wilting. Their roots seem healthy and there are no visible insects.
A: Asters are devils
for suffering from fusarium wilt. This fungal attack blocks the
vascular tissues responsible for moving food and water around the
plant, resulting in wilting, even when the soil is moist. Dispose
of the plants away from the garden and don't grow asters in the
same soil for at least five years.
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