The Victory Gardener’s
for the month of June
Gardening starts in full swing this month. Things are growing now, including the weeds. Get into a good, daily routing to hoe and cultivate and they won’t get away from you. As your lawn takes off, save your clippings and use them to mulch around the plants in your vegetable garden.
In the Vegetable Garden
- If setting out plants, be sure to provide a bit of shade the first few days or until they are established.
- Sweet corn should be planted in successive plantings at the beginning as well as mid-month.
- Plant endive and kale for Fall greens.
- To keep growing lettuce throughout the heat of the summer, try shading and keeping well-watered.
- Mulching helps conserve moisture and keeps down weeds.
- Train tomatoes for earlier harvests. Determinate varieties do nicely in baskets. Indeterminate can be trained up poles. Remove the suckers that grow above the leaves by pinching.
- Look ahead to the July Almanac Page. Start planning your Fall garden now!
- For late crops of beans, beets, carrots, kohlrabi, turnips, etc., plant near the end of the month.
- Rutabagas, or Swedes, need to be sown twelve weeks before your first frost date. Plant in fine, loose soils and keep it moist. This allows the globes to form properly and prevent forking.
In the Flower Garden
- Early in the month is still not too late to plant morning glories.
- Plant gladiolus corms for late flowers.
- Now is a good time to plant many perennial flower seeds.
- Snap off old flowering heads from rhododendrons.
- Many perennials will benefit from mulching. Along with keeping down competition from weeds, the mulch helps to conserve moisture.
Trees & Shrubs
- It is still not too late to shear evergreens.
- Make sure to keep newly planted trees and shrubs watered throughout the season.
Note: This almanac page should be used as a general guideline of common garden tasks. You should modify the list based on your specific geographic area. For a very useful tool to aide in planning your garden, click here.
