June Gardening Plus What’s Going on in My Garden!

Well June is here and the days are definitely getting shorter. I am really missing the longer days of summer! In the summer we could leave going out into the garden until 4 o’clock and still have hours of daylight to work. Now the sun goes down a little after 5 o’clock so we have to start much earlier! We might have to start scheduling our June gardening jobs for the morning so that we have more time to get everything done!

It is amazing how the focus in the garden changes as we head into winter. It doesn’t seem that long ago that we were flat out trying to keep our garden cool and well watered. Now we rarely think about turning on a hose because we have been lucky enough to get a shower of rain every few days.

When it has been raining it is easy to forget to water the container plants that are undercover! While they don’t need as much water at this time of year they still have to be watered when they get dry. We try and move as many of our cold tolerant pot plants to the edges of the veranda as we can. That way they will get some of the rain when it comes.

Even though it is cold and most of the plants are really slowing down there is still lots of gardening jobs that can be done in June.

Here are some June gardening jobs that I will be getting stuck into this month!

My June Gardening Jobs:

rake up fallen leaves from deciduous trees and put in compost
prune fruit trees
organise another compost bin/heap to make use of garden waste
weed vegetable and ornamental garden beds
use up old seeds to grow a green manure crop
feed current vegetable crops (parsnips, silver beet, onions, cauliflower and garlic)
plant some seed potatoes
plant the last of our spring flowering bulbs
provide frost protection for susceptible plants when necessary
bring cold sensitive potted plants inside
start planning for spring

Well May was a fairly busy month in the garden. With all the rain and cooler temperatures that we have had the lawn has finally taken off. Now even just a few days after being mowed it is long again and ready for another trim!

Early in May I started worrying about frosts, so I made up some structures that we could use to provide frost protection whenever we need it. So far we haven’t had to use it, but I don’t think it will be much longer before the frosty weather sets in! In fact temperatures have been predicted to drop to around 1 degree later this week.

We really only have one plant (a waratah) that needs frost protection while it is small. So I made up an easy to assemble, temporary frame for the plant and I will cover it with frost cloth whenever a frost is forecast. Check out the full post if you want to see how I made it.

We have potted up most of our spring flowering bulbs. We prefer them in pots because they are easier to lift after they die back. We make up a homemade potting mix using our compost and the bulbs seem to thrive in it. We had some beautiful tulips last year using this mix. It is also so much cheaper than buying commercial potting mix.

Now that we have a couple of compost heaps we have been able to generate quite a bit of compost. We hope to produce even more this year because we find we can use it up quite quickly. We use it in potting mix, as mulch, and we dig it through the vegetable patches.

This year we have been collecting bags of manure from farms in the area and we have been adding them to the compost. So far we have been lucky enough to pick up some cow, horse, sheep, and chicken manure.

We have also taken the opportunity to do some weeding in the garden whenever we get a chance. In the past we have not done much in the veggie patch over winter, so the weeds usually try to take over! This year we are making an effort to really keep on top of the weeds and pull them while they are still small.

The rain that we have had means that he ground is softer and the weeds can be pulled out much easier. We seem to get lots of grassy weeds in the vegetable garden and if they are pulled when small they make great green material for the compost.

Weeding the garden can be such a daunting task, especially if weeds have been allowed to take hold. I find it is best to ignore the big picture and just pick a small area and start pulling. If you can spend around half an hour each day weeding a small patch a few days later a large area of the garden is weed free!

Well that is what has been happening in my garden over the last month. As I write this it is raining so I have an excuse for not being out in the garden today. Tomorrow I plan to make a start on my list of June gardening jobs!

For more ideas on what June gardening jobs you need to do check out the following links: