Garden calendar: June
2.6.2017
Translation: machine translated
If you haven't put on gardening gloves yet, you're not a gardener! But maybe you want to become one? With our ideas for June, we give you some inspiration and tips along the way.
Planning
The ice saints are over - in June everything can go out and straight into the bed. Maybe you've already got seedlings or bought some. This means it's another good time to think about what goes where. And above all: from when to when. If you want to make optimum use of the planting area, you need to be clear about when you will harvest where and when the area will be available again. Make sure that you don't deplete the soil by planting one high-yielding crop after another. In the calendar sheet from April you can read which species belong where.
General
In June and July, the topic of watering is the order of the day: during the hot months, your plants need regular support, especially if it hasn't rained for a while.
Watering can
Therefore, we would like to recommend the watering can without obligation. We use two different sizes at home: The 12-litre can provides plenty of water - but delicate seedlings would be washed away with it. I much prefer to use the 4-litre can there.
Hose
If you have a water connection in the garden - unfortunately we are not one of the lucky ones in our apartment block - you can of course solve the watering problem with a hose. On really hot days, we borrow a hose from the neighbours. Make sure you have a spray head that allows different settings. You must not water delicate plants with a sharp jet of water, otherwise you will wash them away. A spray is the better choice for delicate specimens. Good sprinkler heads can also regulate the amount of water: This allows you to water specific dry areas, such as under a dense canopy of leaves.
Rain barrel
If you're lucky, there's a rainwater pipe outlet in your garden. Then you can simply place a rain barrel underneath and collect the rainwater. It's very suitable for plants as it doesn't come out of the tap cold and is limescale-free. It also saves you valuable tap water that would have had to be purified at great expense. Unfortunately, we don't have a rainwater pipe - so I don't have to fill the watering can a dozen times in the bathroom (or with the neighbours' hose) in summer, the rain barrel is extremely practical. I simply open the lid when it rains and keep it closed during longer dry spells - also so that mosquitoes don't find a breeding ground right outside our living room.
Automatic irrigation
If you have a garden and still want to go on holiday, then you either need nice neighbours. Or you can rely on automatic irrigation. At this point, we'll just say that Galaxus has it. We will provide a detailed test of an irrigation system soon.
Weed, weed, weed
It's best to go round once a week in June and weed out unwanted plants. Your best friend for this work is undoubtedly a weeder: thanks to its slim shape, it can also be used to tackle the taproots of dandelions & Co.
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Plants
Now in the bed
If you have planted seedlings and grown them indoors or in a raised bed, you can now plant them in the bed.
..but these are just examples. Now that there's certainly no more frost, everything can come out. Browse through our range, the selection is really impressive: Click here for seeds & bulbs. Here you will find larger plants. Watch out: For some plants, such as chillies, you are too late to sow seeds - you need to get a seedling now. If you only want to find suitable plants, simply set the filter to the month of June
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Thinning out vegetables
If you have sown vegetables or herbs yourself, you now need to thin out the young plants. Proceed strictly according to Darwin: "survival of the fittest". In other words, identify the strongest plants and weed out smaller or weaker specimens. Sounds mean, but you have to do it so that the larger plant can develop properly. It's better to have a few beautiful plants rather than lots of small specimens that get in each other's way.
Hill peas & Co
If you've planted peas like we did, June is the time to huddle them. As a rule of thumb, you can top-dress when the pea plant has grown to a height of around 20 cm. It improves the stability of the plant and helps it to develop more and stronger roots. Incidentally, mounding helps many vegetable plants because the stronger roots allow them to absorb more nutrients.
Protecting berry bushes
Berries not only like to end up in children's mouths, but also in the beaks of birds. If you want to prevent feathered friends from plundering your fine redcurrants, you can easily keep them away with a net or thin fleece.
Cut back early summer bloomers
Shrubs and bushes that have already flowered can be cut back. These include
the broom, the weigelie or the forsythia. The last two both have mesotonic growth. This means that new shoots grow from the centre of older branches because the flexible branches are bent. This means that the forsythia will become increasingly bare at the bottom if you don't prune it regularly. What's more, without care, it will develop in such a way that it produces fewer flowers overall. So, get out the secateurs and cut it back properly. Forsythia is also very easy to propagate: Cut off the branch and put it in a pot with soil.
Fuchsbaumzünsler, aphids and other pests
June is a good time to prune boxwood. Although earlier pruning would be more favourable for the plant, you should still wait for the bird breeding season before cutting back shrubs and hedges. A hedge trimmer makes the job much easier. And remember: the best shears are no good if they are blunt. So quickly get a grinding stone and sharpen the blades from time to time. If you want to cut shapes into shrubs or need to maintain larger hedges, then an accumulator shear is recommended.
While we're on the subject of bushes, I have a request: On my way to work, I drive past several box hedges that have been infested by the borer. Our neighbour also has a box tree - it has been eaten into the ground. I'm usually in favour of gentle measures, but here you have to strike hard and fast. If you have a box tree, you'll have to get behind it regularly with the chemical club, every few weeks depending on the effectiveness of the product. The birds will not eat the caterpillars because they don't like them! If you leave the box tree moth to its own devices, you endanger all other box trees in the immediate vicinity.
The Federal Office for Agriculture maintains a list of effective and authorised antidotes here.
For other pests such as aphids and spider mites, the best remedy is a diverse garden. This is because beneficial insects such as ladybirds, earwigs and other helpers that keep aphids in check also settle here. In the case of light infestations, a courageous use of the garden hose helps, with which the aphids are simply rinsed off. A tried-and-tested and gentle remedy is nettles: soak 1 kilo of nettles in 10 litres of water for a day. Use a spray bottle to treat the infested plant parts with the nettle water. If you repeat the treatment a few times, the situation should improve quickly.
There is also no need to use chemicals to combat spider mites, which like to colonise houseplants and flowers. Houseplants can be gently rid of the pests by watering them vigorously and sealing them with a transparent plastic bag. Spider mites do not like damp conditions at all and die within a few days. Of course, this is not practical outside in the garden. Predatory mites, which are placed on infested plants, have proved their worth here. They prey on spider mites and their brood and solve the problem naturally.
Propagating strawberries
If you already have a strawberry plant - perhaps because Andrea inspired you to start a small plantation with her article - you can easily obtain cuttings after the harvest. Firstly, identify a vigorous specimen that has borne a lot of fruit and has at least one offshoot. Pinch off other offshoots behind it. Only the first offshoot is the clone you are interested in.
Now there are two options. Either you let the new strawberry take root in the soil. Once it has grown vigorously, carefully dig it out or cut the connection to the parent plant.
The second option only works with clones that are not yet rooted. First you need a small clay pot (important, no plastic pots!). Carefully lift the plant aside and dig a hole to accommodate the clay pot. Place the plant back over the pot. Secure the cuttings with an agraffe, for example, to prevent them from slipping. As soon as the plant is well rooted, cut the connection to the mother plant. Now you can dig out the pot and you have another berry supplier that will bear fruit next year.
Fried elderflowers
A neighbour asked us if he could pick some blossoms from our lush elderberry tree. Not to make syrup, but to bake deep-fried elderflowers. Of course, I had to try it out straight away. The recipe is simple and the comments are very promising!
A ❤️ for animals
Remember how I talked about the cairn in April? Our pile of stones has already become a real spider paradise. I'm now depositing larger stones in a second corner and I'm curious to see whether lizards will eventually discover the housing offer.
An insect hotel was also on my to-do list. I didn't want to buy one, but simply used a wooden frame into which I drilled holes of various sizes (3 mm - 8 mm). If you would rather buy an insect hotel, I recommend the ready-made box from "Wildbiene + Partner". You will then be sent a tube with a new population every year.
Aurel Stevens
Chief Editor
aurel.stevens@digitecgalaxus.chI'm the master tamer at the flea circus that is the editorial team, a nine-to-five writer and 24/7 dad. Technology, computers and hi-fi make me tick. On top of that, I’m a rain-or-shine cyclist and generally in a good mood.
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