Gardening tips for June 2026

Flaming June! Either the weather has gone to pot or the drought continues.  Whatever the weather has decided, the garden needs gardening, especially if it’s still the tip that was supposed to have been sorted by now. June, with its long hours of daylight (nearly 18 hours in the north of Scotland, that is one hour more than Sussex), is encouraging everything to grow. With spring behind us and the full colours of summer beginning to bloom, everything looks like it’s coming up roses, especially the roses.

Tempting as it is to sit back and admire your parterre, enjoying the al fresco lifestyle provided free courtesy of global warming, sharing a bottle or two with friends and family, there is still much to do in the garden, so, let’s get to it.

The kitchen garden

Weeding, watering, harvesting, repeat. There should be enough produce becoming available from the garden that the veg aisle in the supermarket can be skipped for the next few weeks, just as the prices come down!

Those of you who planted early potatoes should now be rewarded with a new-season crop. Same for peas, broad beans, onions, beetroot, and salads, all providing they were planted early enough. Fruit such as strawberries, gooseberries and cherries will be abundant, just as well as the birds appreciate our hard work in providing them with an open larder.

Have you a fruit tree that refuses to produce any fruit? I have a plum tree that was planted many years ago and has never fruited, two autumns ago I mulched around the tree with a deep covering of manure, last autumn I dug in a heavy covering of blood, fish and bone. This spring loads of blossom and now it is covered in tiny fruit. Too early to know if it will all set but I’m always hopeful. From now on, I will be feeding fruit trees every autumn.

Sow a few beetroot seeds every two weeks and lift them when still small or let them grow large for baking. Sow broccoli for late autumn picking or overwinter them for picking next spring, this is especially good for purple sprouting broccoli, always very expensive to buy in the spring but costs next to nothing to grow your own. That really applies to planting anything in the kitchen garden, grow your own and save your money, must be the best incentive as well as growing interesting varieties that are seldom available in the shops, see Tomatoes.

Tomatoes

Garden centres are getting a bit more adventurous with the variety of tomato plants and seeds for sale. Any variety with the word ‘Crimson’ in its name is resistant. Crimson Crush tomatoes were developed in 2015 in Bridlington with help from Bangor University, so a British invention to combat a fungal infection that can be prevalent in damp summers. There are hundreds of tomato varieties to choose from if buying seed. Be adventurous; I always plant some beefsteak varieties, small varieties, some blight resistant varieties and quite often seeds saved from a supermarket purchase that were unusually tasty.

The flower garden

Foliage from daffodils that have started to yellow can be removed, same for tulips and other spring bulbs such as Leucojum (Summer Snowflake – look like very tall snowdrops, an exceptionally easy and prolific white flowering bulb for early to late spring).

Garden centres are a riot of colour again, this must mean all the summer bedding is in stock and as always, it will be selling fast. Buy all you need in one go and plant out now the risk of frosts has gone.

Water garden

This is my yearly reminder to refresh the water in the garden pond. Stored rainwater is best but tap water can be used providing you don’t have koi carp. Replace a few full watering cans and if you have a pump with a filter, now is a good time to give it a clean. I know the bio filters should be left alone but if they clog up like mine, clean them.

Lawns

Lawns appear to be managing better this year when compared to last, rain in May seemed to do just enough to keep the grass looking green. To help grass through the summer months don’t cut too short, longer grass means deeper roots so more chance of finding water.

Keep gardening, Richard Haigh