What to do in the garden in June:
There's no better place to be in June than in your garden. The veg garden is packed to overflowing: your flowers are a riot of colour and perfume. Keep the show dazzling with this month's key jobs.
General tasks:
Top up mulches to keep weeds under control: a 5cm layer of well-rotted stable manure feeds your plants as it rots.
Remove spent bulb foliage as they've now had enough time to build reserves. Start mowing lawns where bulbs have naturalised.
Ornamental garden:
Fill hanging baskets with colourful geraniums, tuberous begonias or trailing petunias for a mass of colour all summer.
Dead-head roses to keep them flowering, removing the spent flower down to just above the next pair of leaves.
Prune spring-flowering shrubs like deutzia and philadelphus, taking out about a third of the oldest branches.
Kitchen garden:
Look out for sawfly larvae on gooseberries and pick them off straight away as these little green caterpillars will strip every last leaf off your plants.
Feed asparagus to help it build up a good crop for next year. Use general-purpose slow-release fertiliser, available from your favourite garden centre.
Remove tomato sideshoots as they appear between leaf and stem, snapping them out with your fingers, so plants can concentrate on producing fruit.
