It was fairly cold at the beginning of May with frequent night frosts and the garden plants are continuing to flower much later than usual this year. June is usually a warm frost-free month, but it would be wise to have some garden fleece handy just in case of a freak late frost. The garden centres are now full of bedding plants and there is a good choice of begonias, ageratum, dahlias, cosmos, marigolds, petunias and busy lizzies in boxes ready for planting out in beds and borders. Pot-grown plants suitable for bedding out and planting in window boxes and hanging baskets include geraniums, begonias, fuchsias, Surfinia petunias, Million Bells and verbena, together with trailing plants such as bidens, bacopa, nepeta and helichrysum. Always add a little water-retaining gel such as Swell-Gel to the composts intended for all baskets and containers plus some slow-release fertilizer.
There is still time to sow summer-flowering annuals such as clarkia, godetia, candytuft and calendula direct into borders outside. Herbaceous plants can still be planted but they will need watering more often now. Once they have flowered, plants should be dead-headed and cut back and divided if necessary. Taller plants will need to be provided with some support. Keep up with the weeding and feed all roses, shrubs, climbers and herbaceous perennials with Toprose fertilizer or Vitax Q4; camellias, rhododendrons and azaleas must be fed with an ericaceous fertilizer. Now is the time to sow polyanthus and pansies ready for autumn planting and wallflowers and sweet williams as well. As the weather warms up, the softer plants will need to be watered regularly. To prevent shrubs and border plants from drying out, make sure that a good, thick layer of mulch, such as bark chips, is put down around the plants.
In the vegetable garden it’s time to plant outdoor tomatoes, cucumbers, marrows, courgettes, runner beans, celery, sweet corn, cabbage and cauliflower. Sow peas and, at regular intervals, salad crops. Earth up the potatoes and start to dig the very early new potatoes. Soft fruit should soon be ready to harvest. Make sure that shading is provided for the greenhouse and that it is well ventilated in hot weather. Humidity can be kept up by watering the stone floor in the greenhouse. Make sure that the side shoots are removed from tomatoes and that they are regularly watered to prevent blossom-end rot from spoiling the fruit. Now is the time to put up codlin moth traps in apple trees. And finally spray the roses every few weeks to prevent rust, mildew and black spot from setting in.
The annual Gardeners World Live Show is at the NEC Birmingham from 16-20 June (tickets 0844 581 1353) and the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show is from 6-11 July (tickets 0844 338 7526).
Terry Simmonds