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Monthly Gardening Guide – June
Welcome to your Monthly Gardening Guide for June! Below you will find information on what I will be doing, (or trying to do) for the month of June. These are goals, not standards and some months I am on top of it and other months I blow it. But somehow, and thankfully, the garden is forgiving. Your garden to-do list may look different than mine, and that is okay. Perhaps you will glean something from my list and please, if you have any suggestions, opinions or tips & tricks feel free to contact me! I would love to hear from you. Now, let’s get our hands dirty and get growing!
Main Goal
Water, water and water and keep those plants alive! June is a hard month in North Texas. Our normal is hot, hot and hotter and dry. So that means watering and providing shade constantly. At the same time, we are still planting the remainder of our bulk summer crops (from seed started indoors or transplants) and also succession sowing some vegies such as beans, okra and squashes. You especially need to pay special care and attention to your new planting for their first few days. Try and transplant them out after dinner in the evening so they have all night to acclimate and also that following morning. Have your shade already installed before you go to sleep that night because your new baby plants will need it tomorrow! So, water and shade are the name of the game this month.
FAQ:
Q: My tomatoes are growing and looking great, but I don’t have fruit. Why??
A: Up here in North Texas our Summer are so HOT. The larger fruiting tomatoes like Big Boy and Beefsteak, or actually any Large size variety (check seed catalogs and try not to grow these as it will just lead to frustration and no fruit) will not set fruit in hot weather over 90, which is 99% of our Summer and some of our Fall temps. Also, without wind and our friendly pollinators it’s really hard for tomatoes to get pollinated. Now this year it has been extremely windy, so I should get some good fruit set. If you don’t have a windy late spring/summer, go around and shake your plants and even lightly “flick” the flower clusters so they pollinate themselves!
It has taken me many years to be trained by my garden and the area that I live in, on which tomatoes will grow well here. Every year I would be lured back to the “Big Boy” type tomatoes and every year I would be disappointed. This year I am happy to say is different. I started them early and grew them well and strong and I also did my research for my area and matched with varieties that fit my areas criteria. If you are in my area of North Texas, what tomato varieties do you grow? I would love to know. The following tomatoes are in my garden this year:
Hybrid Fried Green Tomato
Bonny Best
Jet Star
Arkansas Traveler
Prepare
Prepare for hot weather with shade covering for your plants. Use shade cloth of at least 50% Black and stakes and clips so that your plants receive sunlight but do not burn and dry up.
Water, water, water. Don’t forget even one watering. I have a timer system that is set for my different planting zones and it waters in the early morning hours. BUT, I also do spot watering at night in case any plants look stressed or need extra water. It may have been a really windy, dry day that day. Remember to check your timer weekly to make sure it is working properly and I also check my various veggie and flower beds with a water meter to make sure they do have adequate wetness, I may need to adjust my timers length of time up or down depending on the water meter readings.
Have your fertilizer schedule already set and remember to do it religiously. Every weekend now I fertilize with Alaska fish fertilizer.
Control garden weeds by pulling, hoeing or mulching and mulching some more. I prefer to use black plastic on my garden beds. I place that on the beds in the spring when the ground warms up. I then plant through the plastic and I cover the plastic up with straw. I like straw, I buy natural organic straw with no weed seeds in it and I let it decompose and nourish my soil. It also keeps my plants leaves dry if I forget to prune them. Win, win.
Control aphids on vegetables as needed by hosing off with water or by using insecticidal soap or a registered insecticide. I usually go the hose route, mainly because I just forget to spray preventatively. But I love the natural and essential oil recipes Gary Pilarchik from The Rusted Garden shares. Here is his video on aphids:
Be on the lookout for 12-spotted beetles on cucumbers and squash. Remove the pests by hand or treat with registered pesticides.
And watch for the Mexican Bean Beetle:
I highly recommend getting yourself a copy of Gary’s garden book; The Modern Homestead Garden. It is chockful of gardening information that will save you time and money so you have more of both to put into your garden. You can find his book here, and y’all it’s on SALE!!:
Plant’em
If you didn’t get all your Summer Veggies in by now, get’em done this first week. It’s still not too late, but you are pushing it. We have a very long growing season in the Summer, but your going to get taxed soon because it’s time the first couple of weeks this month, to start seeds indoors so they are ready to plant out for our Fall Garden!
Succession sowing is the name of the game for the rest of the Summer Garden, or at least until the bugs arrive. Then its also bug duty!
Keep sowing these veggies every 2 weeks (for our family of 2, I sow a 6 or 12 pack of seeds indoors every 2 weeks):
Beans – All varieties, that you love and will eat of course. Plant extra for the bugs and disease, it will come.
Squash – Again all varieties, that you love and will eat. And ditto on the extra because you may not get good pollination on your squashes either, besides the bugs and disease.
Okra – You can never have too much of this awesome plant, and their are so many varieties and they have gorgeous flower!!
Cucumbers – Some years I can’t grow them worth anything and other years I get a whole boatload of them. Plant extra and succession plant if you want to make pickles.
Prune’em
- Not a lot of pruning to be done but what there is seems like a lot. Since we have had such warm temperatures all of nature feels it needs to grow. So there is some pruning to be done:
- Prune back your suckers that are showing up everywhere, in your bushes and trees.
- Prune shade trees just to let in more light and to also snag those limbs that may be damaged or growing in such a way as to be in the way of a walking person or vehicle.
- Cut back your spring flowering perennials, just the buds or maybe by 1/3 if you like to encourage another round of blooming. I usually give the plants I prune a nice fertilizer drink after I prune.
- Remember to remove (pinch out) flower stalks on: Basil, Coleus, Caladiums, Lamb’s ears so that the plant will continue to branch out and THEN bloom.
- Blackberries that have bloomed need to have those canes cut down to the ground, otherwise just tip prune (that pinching again) to encourage side growth.
Feed’em!
- Make sure you are fertilizing your lawns (if you have them) on a regular schedule and according to the type of grass you have.
- All other veggies and flowers need to be fertilized at least weekly with a water soluble fertilizer. Miracle-gro or it’s no name equivalent is good and Alaskan Fish Fertilizer is even better! (but I get it, sometimes you don’t wanna smell like a fish).
- Remember when you are planting your transplants or seedlings you grew to fertilize at the time of planting. I mix my own fertilizer mix. A combo of no name inexpensive all purpose as close as I can to 5-5-5 granular fertilizer with bone meal, some epsom salts, blood meal. I mix all that up and apply 1 handful into the planting hole all mixed with the existing soil. Then I also add about 1 tsp of that same mix to the top of the soil and then I water it all in with fish fertilizer water. BOOM!! Off to a great start!
THE LOOK OUT FOR’S & TO-DO’S
I only really have 2 things that I need to be looking out for this month in the garden, here they are:
Crabgrass – How I hate this stuff! It is the bane of my existence in the garden. I can double, triple, quadruple my layers under my raised beds after scalping the lawn and that stuff finds a way in. This year though, with all the mulch I am using in the beds it’s been easier to pull out by hand slowly and get the roots. Try and pull slowly and at an angle and it usually comes out. I am also using a more organic bacterial spray that is made with a natural bacteria called spinosad, this year on what I cannot pull. Here is the link if you want to check it out too. Monterey LG6150 Garden Insect Spray
Spider Mites – All of my beloved Marigolds, Beans, Tomatoes and many other veggies are susceptible to Spider Mites. Refer to Gary Pilarchik’s video below to help with that.
The Spider Mites are not effected by insecticides, the best thing to do is to wash off the underside of effected leaves of plants really well. Once that is done then spray with the Neem Oil & Soap. Here is that recipe for you:
Under 80 degrees: 1-2 TBSP neem Oil + 1-2 tsp Dawn (ore equivalent) with 1 Gal water. Spray & drench every 2 weeks.
Over 80 degrees: 1 TBSP Neem Oil + 1-2 tsp Dawn (ore equivalent) with 1 Gal water. Spray & drench every 2 weeks.
The difference in the recipes above is the temperature and the amount of Neem Oil. The hotter the temp the less active or strong ingredient you want to use so as not to damage the plants. Please, please look for 100% cold pressed Neem Oil, you want the azadirachtin in there, and NOTHING removed. This is good Neem Oil here.
MONTHLY GARDEN CHECK-LIST FOR JUNE
- June is the driest month. But do NOT overwater. Water slowly, deeply (5 or 6 inches deep), and let the soil dry between watering. Grab yourself a timer if that helps. Even a reminder on your phone or calender.
- Mulch, mulch, mulch! Apply a 3 to 4 inch layer of mulch around the roots of your plants. The mulch will help retain moisture during the hot and dry summer.
- Plant colorful summer annuals, such as Cosmos, Marigolds, Salvia, or Petunias or Pentas.
- Remove faded or dead flowers from your plants to encourage new growth, remember to give them a yummy drink too.
- Cut back on fertilizing roses during the hot temperatures. Water deeply. Hose off roses in the early morning to increase humidity.
- In North Texas continue to succession sow some vegetables. Only the veggies that can take the heat can go in now. You can plant melons, sunflowers, and sweet potato transplants. Also beans, okra, cow peas, squash and peppers. Be sure to water your transplants both before and after you plant them.
- Please provide shade, shade, shade for your plants.
- Watch out for disease and fungus and bugs in the garden. Try and be proactive so you don’t have to deal with too much.
I hope your gardens are prospering this June. That insects see that “No Trespassing” sign and that all your blooms turn to veggies! I would love to know what zone your in and what your facing this month in your garden. Please tell me, “How does your Garden grow?”
May you find joy & wonder in your garden and may your hands always be dirty,
Dig in to more Gardening Posts here:
I'm married to an amazing man, we have 4 crazy kids, and 4 crazy cats.Pull up a seat, grab a glass of sweet tea and stay awhile!
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We try to water every other day for about 2-3 hours with a sprinkler (yeah, I know, I should be watering at the root, but you do what you can with what you have). So far, so good!