To Do List for June

From In the Garden

Here is what I expect to do in my June garden.

1) Continue planting. This is the month you should be totally done with planting-yahoo!

2) Continue weeding.

3) Mow your lawn bi-weekly, and mow it long! Raise your mower height to 3-4" for cool season grasses. For warm season you can mow at about 2".

4) Do not water if there is adequate moisture in the soil, no matter how wilted the plants look. You can tell if a plant needs water by whether or not it recovers after the sun goes down and early the next morning. Some friends are already watering and we have enough moisture in the ground right now. The only exception would be newly planted annuals, and larger plants which haven't settled in yet. A good watering once a week is sufficient. Don't over do it. The plants need to reach for moisture; watering now will spoil them.

5) Prune suckers from tomatoes if desired, and from crabapples. Pinch back mums and place cuttings in potting soil to start more plants if desired. They will bloom this year.

6) Apply fresh mulch if you haven't already. It seems the leaf mulch has about all faded away. It is extremely important to mulch your vegetable garden. Come July and August, it will be a jungle fit for no man if you do not mulch now.

7) Deadhead and tidy up plants, leave self seeders to go to seed if seedlings are desired. Some you may wish to leave alone are: coneflowers, dianthus, salvias, and brown eyes.

8) If you have fruit in the garden and don't want to share it all with the birds and other critters, cover the fruit with tulle or cheesecloth. Ensure it is staked down well.

9) If aphids are a problem, hose them off with a strong force of water. This also helps get rid of keep spider mites. Spider mites especially love Dwarf Alberta Spruces, so be diligent with that hose.

10) Check for bagworms on evergreens such as arborvitae. I hand pick the sacks and place in a bucket of soapy water.

11) The Japanese and June beetles will show themselves this month. Hand pick Japanese beetles in the early morning or late afternoon hours. Put them a bucket of soapy water. June beetles usually don't bother things in the garden. They are more of a nuisance. They emerge from well tended turf areas and buzz around for a while. They can be alarming and look like carpenter bees, but they will not hurt you. A preventative measure is to apply milky spore to your yard. Milky spore is an organic bacteria which causes death in grubs. No grubs, no beetles.

12) Check your shrubs for winter die back and prune as necessary.

13) When you are weedwhacking, be on the lookout for new weeds which may be desirable wildflowers. Queen Ann's Lace and Mullein are biennials. They will be setting seed soon and it is possible you already have seedlings. I have noticed many in my garden. These two wildflowers will bloom next year. Plan for their growth, especially the mullein; which can get quite large and woody. The Queen Ann's Lace can take over so pull those plants while they are small if they are in the wrong spot.

14) Guide vines onto their supports. Despite popular opinion, roses do not climb. You must train even climbing roses onto a support. I have to tie my canes up. If you let the canes get too long-good luck! They can become inflexible pretty quickly and stick you with thorns if that is the type you have. Ouch! Can you tell that is what I have? Training vines will save time later.

15) Shear hedges as necessary. I don't shear any shrubs in my garden, but have in the past. Normally you have to shear them a few times throughout the growing season. June or July are the months. These are typically boxwoods and some hollies.

I will add to this list and all of my to do lists as we go along. Please use this as a guideline as it is simply what I do in my garden in June. I am looking for a slowdown-much overdue with the busy spring we have had. July should bring it!

in the garden....

I am out of town this week and will be back as soon as I am able. I am sorry I will not be around to visit all good blogging friends but will try to catch up as I am able.

Two very nice bloggers have invited me to visit their gardens in North Carolina so I am ever so excited! And you can bet blogging will not be far from my mind, but I will still be on vacation so not on the computer. I left a few short posts for readers in the meantime.

Can you guess the two bloggers? It should be easy as I think they are the only two who live close enough to each other that a visit to their wonderful gardens is doable for us. One has deer and rabbit problems, and the other encouraged me to start my garden coaching business.

Remember, I do not respond to comments on these To Do lists. They are simply informational for anyone wishing to read along.

The picture above is of some crinum lilies growing in my garden. They were passed along to me by a very good gardener here in my small town. I think of her often when I see them in the garden.

I picked a few to take to garden club recently and they won a blue ribbon. But I was most surprised that some of the long time gardeners in my club were not familiar with these lilies. Crinums are hardy here and very easy to grow. They like sun and good drainage with good soil. Too simple. I've seen them at the Nashville Lawn and Garden show so you can purchase these lilies and I know they come in a wide range of colors. If someone ever offers you some crinums, consider it as big as an honor as offering you peonies because they are pretty special! I know I do.