What to do in June

Harvesting salad late May

Long, light, and (hopefully) warmer days means everything can grow at its fastest this month. Go away for the weekend and your tomatoes and beans might be an inch or two taller on your return. 

It'a also a busy gardening month: watering, feeding and tying up plants as they grow. 

And if you want to keep up a supply of salads, leaves, peas, and beans for late summer and autumn, you'll want to sow some seeds, too. Dedicating a small space or shelf as a 'seedling nursery' is a great way to raise baby plants that you can plant out when needed.

This month

  1. What to sow now
  2. Other jobs for June: feeding, pinching out, harvesting.

1. What to sow now

There's a lot you can sow in June - and if you want to avoid gaps in pots later in the season (as crops finish), you can plan ahead and sow some in trays or small pots over the next few weeks.  

i) Courgettes / zucchini and cucumber

I usually sow another courgette / zucchini or two this month - as earlier sowings tend to run out of steam in mid to late August in containers. This way, we can eat fresh courgettes well into September. I sow the seeds in small pots. I then move them into the larger containers that are now growing peas and early potatoes when I harvest these in early July. 

ii) Herbs

June is a good month to buy and plant most herbs. And is one of the best months to sow basil: it will enjoy the warm weather that is (hopefully) to come. 

Coriander is prone to flower prematurely at this time of year.  For a continuous supply through summer, sow a new tray every few weeks. Or wait until late August, when sowings will often keep going all winter and into spring the following year. 

Most herbs will have lots of fresh, soft growth at this time of year. This makes it a good time to start new herbs from cuttings. Good ones to try: lemon verbena, thyme, rosemary, sage and Vietnamese coriander.

Sage grown from a cutting. Cuttings from most herbs are easy to do and a great way of expanding your herb collection for free! Sage grown from a cutting. Cuttings from most herbs are not difficult and a great way of expanding your herb collection for free!

iii) Peas and beans

Most types of peas and beans can still be sown now to give you a fresh supply in the late summer and autumn. French and runner beans are a rewarding and productive choices for containers.

Mangetout pea blossomI love the pea blossom that appears in June from earlier sowings. You can often pick the first peas this month, too

 

iv) Salads

Many salad crops - like rocket and lettuce - grow best in the cooler weather of spring and autumn. They can still be grown in summer, but they are more prone to bolt (flower and go to seed) in warm weather. To keep up a regular supply, you'll need to sow them more often.  Sow a tray once a fortnight or once a month and you'll have a supply of seedlings you can use to fill gaps after harvesting a pot. 

Some salads are less prone to bolt in the heat - and these a good choice to grow for more unusual summer salads. These include: New Zealand spinach, summer purslane, amaranth (callaloo), Malabar spinach (a climber), orach and nasturtiums. Kale and chard also grow well in hot weather - and make a nice addition to salads if picked small. 

Early June salad harvestAn early June salad harvest. Late spring, early summer is 'peak salad' growing season in much of the UK. 

v) Oriental greens

Mustards, pak choi and other oriental greens are more prone to bolt (flower and go to seed prematurely) in lengthening days and in hot weather. It's best to sow them after the midsummer solstice (21 June). Or, for an even longer lasting crop, wait until late August / early September.


Mixed mustards, orach
Mustards like this Tatsoi and mustard red giant grow best in the cool of spring and early autumn. Here are some I'm harvesting in early June. They can be sown again after the summer solstice but I often hold back until later August when they grow really well again. 


vi) Carrots, spring onions, beetroot, turnips, radishes

Can all be sown this month. Radishes are a useful 'catch crop' (a fast growing crop to fill a space in an empty pot for a few weeks), maturing in just three or four weeks. Spring onions / scallions grow well between salads and other leafy veg - or can be very productive when sown close like this. They take up little space and the onion smell can help deter pests. They can also be picked over many weeks without becoming tough or bitter (like some root veg). 

Beetroot and carrots are slower to grow and I don't find we get a lot to eat from a containers. As they are also widely available in the shops, I prefer to use limited space for crops that will give us more to eat. That said, many people grow carrots in containers simply for the taste of home grown - which can be far superior to any you  buy. 

2. Other jobs

i) Move tender plants to final pots

Once all risk of frost is passed in your area, tender plants (those that are killed by frost) like tomatoes, chillies and aubergines can all be moved outside to their final pots outside. 


runner beans and squash planted out after frost
Tender plants like French and Runner beans, squash and tomatoes can all be moved into their final pots once the threat of frost is past. 

It's good practice to 'harden off' plants before moving them outside (for an explanation of 'hardening off' see April). It isn't always essential.... However, if you do move plants that aren't hardened off, try to do during so on warmer days that are not too windy. This will help to minimise the stress they experience. 

ii) Pinching out and tying up

Keep pinching out the side shoots of vine tomatoes to keep them in order. (Vine tomatoes are vigorous growers, and will quickly grow into an unwieldy bushy if the side shoots are not removed). Keeping checking that all climbing plants - like peas and beans - are securely tied in, particularly if strong winds are forecast. 

iii) Feed fruiting crops

When growing fruiting crops like tomatoes and courgettes / zucchini in containers, they will usually yield better if fed regularly. A liquid tomato feed is ideal for all fruiting crops - not just tomatoes. The conventional time to start feeding is when the flowers appear - follow the instructions on the side of the bottle. 

Tomatos and other fruiting veg need a top of potassium to fruit to their full potential. The easiest way to supply this in containers is to buy a liquid tomato feed. Remember that you can overfeed as well as underfeed - so follow the guidelines on the bottle and observe the results.  Using liquid tomato feed on all fruiting crops will usually improve yields, often significantly. Keep picking!


33 comments

Caroline Ross
 

Enjoy your column and Facebook posts. My climate is very different from yours. I live in the mid-south region of the US, in Tennessee. Our temps are in the 90s here now. But I still enjoy what you post and consider your tips. Anyway, just a note.
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

Very nice to hear from you Caroline. It sounds lovely and warm in Tennessee right now. Envious. Chillies and eggplants etc do very well for you, I guess? Such crops grow OK in the south of the UK but are borderline here in the north.
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Kate
 

Where do you get shiso from? I tried it in Japan and I would like to grow it but I haven't found it here. I would add for anyone using a mini greenhouse to start opening it up for some of the day to allow air circulation and pollination, and not to bother trying to start beans off in it as they go mouldy before they have a chance to germinate! (at least that is my recent experience)
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Sarah
 

Hi again! Your photos look good! Especially your peas, they are a lot bigger than mine. Maybe I was a bit late. Or I blame it on the wind. As you told me, covering the salads really makes a difference but I haven't yet thought of a good solution to protect higher-growing plants from the wind. As usual, I have some questions. I thought you didn't need fertilizer for peas and beans because they filter their own food out of the air, but I guess that's only true for nitrogen? Thank you for the advice about feeding the fruiting plants, I guess that can really make the difference between a harvest like last year's and something more satisfying. Do you think worm compost could provide the potassium needed or should I really buy this stuff? (Yes, my wormery is doing quite well! ;) I was a little worried a while ago because they didn't really touch their food. It turned out that the newspaper I used to cover the stuff wasn't enough to make the surface dark -I'd drilled some holes into the lid- but now I'm using a thick old pizza carton and suddenly the come and eat!)
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

Hi Sarah Nice to read your update. You're spot on, when grown in pots, peas and beans do need feeding in order to get a good yield from them. Not as much as say tomatoes or courgettes but they still benefit from some. Your worm compost will probably provide some of their potassium needs - and you could add it as a mulch (ie a layer on top). However, if your worm compost is also rich in nitrogen, and you add too much, you might end up getting a lot of leafy growth at the expense of peas and beans! To increase the potassium content of your worm compost you could try and add lots of stuff that contains potassium - banana skins, for example, are a great source. Also comfrey leaves if you can find them (worms love them too - but add in moderation at first). The easiest way to add potassium to your crops is using a liquid tomato feed - although its called tomato feed you can use it on all fruiting crops. Or if you can find a source of comfrey (I used to get mine from the marshes in Tottenham) you can make comfrey tea which is very smelly but rich in nutrients, particularly potassium. I have the same issue re: wind and taller plants... I haven't found a solution yet - but tying them in really well to strong stakes definitely helps. What a windy year its been so far. But a few sunny days predicted, hurrah! Mark
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Jenny Tweedy
 

Hi I started having a small veg patch last year, with a few things to see how they did. My garden although larger than a patio or balcony is still a very small town garden surrounded by an ivy covered brick wall which... is home to the snails! But this year I am very excited and have got yellow courgettes, purple mange tout, tomatoes, french yellow beans, runner beans, salad leaves, garlic, spinach, a pot with peppers, basil sprouting….have I missed anything, all in planters or recycled containers. I also made my own water butt and a compost bin (this needs a re think though), oh yes calendula which I thought wasn't going to flower but has and nasturtiums…….I'm now thinking what to plant when the peas and beans have gone. I enjoy your tips and they have been really helpful….wonder if I can get an allotment. Jenny
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

Sounds amazing Jenny, congratulations! Love the sound of your home made water butt, too - what did you make that out of?
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Katrina
 

Really neat that you have a sage plant forms cutting. I didn't know it was possible with woody stemmed plants. How did you do it? In water?
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Kathy
 

Great post! Im a huge fan of growing salad plants in containers, but I use a fairly simple successive planting method to get me there. Check it out on my blog! http://bit.ly/SSHdYv
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Jenny Tweedy
 

A redundant old plastic dustbin that was lounging in the shed…..
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

Nice.
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

I just did it in multipurpose compost, Kartrina, using fresh, soft growth from this year (rather than the woody growth). It would also be possible to do them in water.
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

Ah, excellent, very resourceful.
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vertical
 

If you stick with COMFREY, then you'll find it hard to over fert.
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mary campbell
 

can you eat the leaves of purple spourting broccli
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

Yes, indeed Mary.
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Lesley
 

Thanks. I shall try this too.
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Marlene
 

We will move to a house with a small courtyard which I seem to be the only one who sees it as inspiring and as the lush abundant place it could be. Well maybe lush and abundant will take a few years as my gardening succeses aren't that big yet. I loved the peashoots but only my first attempt was succesfull the next all got moldy or dried out. But I am determined to keep trying. I do have a few herbs on our windowsill already. But this post just inspired me to try more herbs, some small cucumbers, salad, radishes and some small round carrots I found yesterday called "market 5". And then just move the pots with us. And I am determined to build a raised bed at our new location for blueberries and raspberries. Well I will keep hoping for the best and some worms for my birthday. Lol
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WM
 

Picking regularly! That's what I've been hesitant to do in my own little patch. Thanks for the tip
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Katie M
 

Tomatoe food is also excellent for roses! If you have one of the jar like feeders attached to the hose, you can feed the foliage as well as blast away any aphids that dare to appear!
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Louise O'Donnell
 

Banana skins are loaded with potassium, so they're excellent for roses, tomatoes etc., just let them rot into the soils around the base of the plant. They seemed to act as insulation for roses during last winter-the worst ever- the roses are madly productive now, no sign of greenfly or winter damage.
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Sheila
 

In reply to Kate regarding rotting bean seeds. It was a long time before I realised that bean seeds don't need much water whilst underground, and that it is so easy to over-water them. I then only watered the seeds in and left them to get on with it. Once above ground you can use more water! It is so easy to over-water a lot of things when one is wanting to make sure that the seeds and plants have enough. Just recently I sowed some white sage seeds, and although the instructions said keep moist, again, I just watered them in and there is good germination. A thin covering of vermiculite helps to keep moisture in if one is at all worried about the soil drying out, and it's light enough for the seedlings to poke through. Sheila
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Wendy Cornwell
 

I keep a daggy sheeps fleece in a large container -keep it topped up with rainwater- my veg and roses love the liquid feed from this- once a week
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Sally Lever
 

Hello everyone, Great to read everyone's comments on here and to hear how you're getting on. I've moved home from a place with a large garden with lots of bed to grow in to a much smaller house with a small, mostly paved ('easy maintenance') garden. I'm picking up on two of the points raised in this thread - water butts and fertiliser. Water butts - With very little space for these, I have few options with siting them due to only having one downpipe in the very tiny front garden and one down pipe in the back garden, which is right next to the kitchen window. Has anyone come across any inexpensive wall mounted or very slim water butts? From what I've found on the internet so far, I'm looking at over £500 for the cost of this project. Would appreciate any pointers. Fertiliser - I don't currently have any comfrey, but do have an abundant supply of nettles in my son's garden. Does nettle tea supply potassium?
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Andy Wood
 

Just discovered your website and blog - fascinating. Going to grow some more herbs and might try some chilli’s and tomatoes
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

Hi Sally, sorry for slow reply, late catching up with comments this month. Nettle tea is primarily good for adding nitrogen and minerals. It may add a little potassium but it will not be a substitute for a good tomato feed or liquid comfrey. For water butts, it is worth checking out your local water company and council - sometimes they sell slimline water butts at subsidised price.
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Trevor Brownen
 

Absolutely Fab in modern parlance, at 74years old and in lock down growing my food is a God send not only for physical health but mental health . I greatly appreciate the site many thanks. As for seeds That well known Auction site is a good source with quick returns that is where I get all mine (no going out) I am in South Devon any one else close ?
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

So glad you are enjoying your food growing in South Devon, Trevor - and, I agree, brilliant for mental health, too! The site you allude to is useful for seed top ups - sometimes a bit variable in quality, but price and getting small packs quick is very useful! Mark
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Richard
 

Try here for slim water butts. Found them recently when deciding on what to equip my garden with https://www.freeflush.co.uk/collections/wall-hung-water-butts
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Sally Lever
 

Thanks so much Richard - that's an excellent range to choose from and better than I had found so far.
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Sally
 

Really informative, answered at least 4 questions for me. Glad I joined your mailing list.
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Ann
 

Discovered your website when looking for info on growing our Blue Lake climbing French beans. Picked up a lot of useful tips from your blog - thank you, However, having enjoyed growing climbers (Cobra variety) for 20 years, we are now using containers as new garden is smaller. After 4 weeks there’s no sign of flowers yet. Have cut off a lot of leaves as they were growing massive! So what should I do next?! Many thanks, Ann
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Mark Ridsdill Smith
 

It may be that the compost you used was high in nitrogen, and that encouraged excessive leafy growth. Make sure they are getting plenty of sun and hopefully they will flower and fruit soon.
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