Well! Hasn’t this weather been fabulous! Finally, the summer weather has arrived.
June is normally the time to plant out bedding plants and they are such a huge part of an English Summer Garden. You can create your stunning flower beds, planters and hanging baskets to fill your garden with colour, using plants such as Petunias, Geraniums, Lobelias and Fuchsias.
Roses are now in their prime, so you need to make sure to deadhead your roses at least once a week to prolong flowering. This helps to stimulate new side shoots that will grow new flower buds to extend the flowering season.
Around the middle of June is the best time to prune back all this year’s new shoots on your Wisteria. They produce flowers on new growth that emerge from spurs off the main shoots. Cut the shoots back to a spur leaving around 6 inches of growth. This is also the perfect opportunity to tidy and tie in your Wisteria so that there are no loose or trailing shoots.
Your apple and pear tree’s may now deposit lots of small fruits onto the ground, don’t worry this is completely normal. This is known as the ‘June Drop, where your trees are reducing the amount of fruit they carry, to successfully ripen those that remain. To ensure you get the best fruit from your trees, it is a good idea to remove the smallest fruit before your tree does this for you.
Sow biennials in a seed tray or pots so that they can grow strong roots and foliage before you can plant them where you want them to grow in the autumn. Wallflowers, Honesty, Foxgloves, Aquilegias and other biennials differ from annuals as they develop foliage and roots in one season and flower in the next.
But most importantly enjoy your garden! Spend the longer evenings sitting and taking in the beautiful garden you have created. It is now at its best, with plants in their full summer foliage and blooms.
Willie the Worm
