The Garden Year: June 2021

Hello there and welcome back to my garden linky, which opens on the 1st of the month and stays open for the whole month - you can link up at any time. You’re welcome to link any posts that have a garden theme - this could be your garden, the plants you’re growing or the gardens you visit, or anything in between - just so long as it’s related to gardening.

I’m continuing with inspiration from the gardening legend Alan Titchmarsh and collating information in these posts which is widely available in the public domain.

June is the start of what Alan refers to as the “blowsy season” when big over the top summer flowers make their first appearance, they may be later than usual though given the bad May we’ve had here in the UK.

It’s a busy month, so let’s get on shall we?

Plants in their prime this month

  • Roses - today our first Gertrude Jekyll bud flowered, it’s definitely the month for roses and there’s so many different varieties I’m sure you’ll find one you love.

  • Philadelphus or Mock Orange - ours is in bud, and the tree is huge - mainly because we haven’t had it cut for a year or two. Once the flowers are done, this year it’s for the chop.

  • Bedding plants - look out for alyssum, aquilegia, calendula, dianthus, violas and more. They’re a good way of adding an instant shot of colour to your garden.

What to do in the garden this month

  • Water and deadhead plants regularly, and plenty of weeding. If your garden is anything like mine then you’ll be discovering weeds almost in every place you look.

  • Remove suckers from roses - they’ll suck the life out of your rose if you don’t, and you’ll miss out on many beautiful blooms.

  • Sow some salad, including lettuce, rocket, spring onion, radish and oriental leaves - your future salad bowl will thank you for successional sowing.

Watch out for, get ahead and last chance

  • Watch out for lily beetle; blackspot, powdery mildew and rust on roses; black fly on broad beans and anthills and nests around your garden, especially in paths and patios.

  • Get ahead and protect any soft fruit from the birds before the fruit starts to ripen.

  • Last chance to plant peppers, cucumbers and tomatoes in the greenhouse or in pots.

cherries+ripening+on+our+tree.jpeg
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The Garden Year: May 2021

Hello there and welcome back to what has been my dormant garden linky. From this month onwards I plan to bring it back monthly, with the linky opening on the 1st of the month and staying open for the whole month. You’re welcome to link any posts that have a garden theme - this could be your garden, the plants you’re growing or the gardens you visit, or anything in between - just so long as it’s related to gardening.

For the next year I’m drawing on inspiration from the gardening legend Alan Titchmarsh and collating information in these posts which is widely available in the public domain.

So, let’s get on shall we?

Plants in their prime this month

  • Rhododendrons - if you’re off to visit any gardens this month then it’s highly likely you’ll spot these, they can range from small bushes to large trees and have a ‘head’ of flowers.

  • Clematis Montana - one of my favourites and one we see regularly in Norfolk. Dad has one in his garden and it’s trying its hardest to flower, the buds are almost fit to burst so I’m pretty sure it won’t be long before the pale pink flower engulfs his garden, and most of Norfolk.

  • Wisteria - the classic early-summer flowering climber with its long trailing streamers of lilac-blue pea-like flowers. I’ve seen some in flower near to us already, so the are about.

  • Tree peonies - they have giant crumpled tissue-paper like flowers on small woody trees, and not to be mistaken for peonies which are likely to make an appearance next month.

What to do in the garden this month

  • Plant half-hardy and frost-tender plants. Summer wouldn’t be the same without hanging baskets and the big job for this month is to plant them up. Also pot-grown dahlias and exotics, as well as frost-tender vegetables such as courgettes, runner beans and sweetcorn.

  • Be patient and prepare the soil. But don’t rush to plant things - if the weather looks iffy it’s better to hang on for a few days. Aim to plant things out from the middle of the month onwards, unless the weather is still looking iffy.

  • Watch out for pests. It’s the month when they can be troublesome, but hopefully if it’s just a small outbreak, nature will take its course.

Watch out for, get ahead and last chance

  • Watch out for late frosts.

  • Get ahead and identify any gaps in your borders, so you know what you’re after when you visit the garden centre.

  • Last chance, at the start of this month to sow a new lawn.

allium may 20.jpeg
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The Garden Year: July

No prizes for spotting that this post and its linky wasn’t here on the first of the month, that’s partly what I meant when I said earlier that I’d lost my blogging rhythm, which I was keen to get back. So far, so good.

Here, the weather has been quite mixed. We should be enjoying warm summer days, but it’s been a bit grey and showery, much more like April weather, though as many gardeners say, it’s good for the garden. What is nice though is as we’re still working from home, and likely to be for the foreseeable future, when it is nice we can have lunch out there, and better still we can pop out and pick our salad to eat at lunch.

That feels a real treat. And I’m already looking forward to when our beans and other veggies start producing something to eat.

runner bean flowers

July in the garden:

  • Consider adding some weatherproof flowers that can cope well with sun or rain, such as achillea or honeysuckle.

  • Avoid cutting the grass too short in hot spells to prevent scorching.

  • Feed tomatoes, chillies, other veg and seasonal pots and baskets weekly with diluted liquid tomato feed.

  • Deadhead, deadhead, deadhead. It really does encourage more growth.

  • Water plants in the morning to prevent them drying out.

  • Check plants such as roses for blackspot, mildew and rust.

  • Pinch out the tops of your cordon tomatoes when they have four or five trusses of fruits.

  • Pick courgettes before they become marrows, which could literally be overnight!

  • Paint wooden sheds, fences and sleepers while the weather is dry - assuming it is.

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