Spring may have been a stunning show, but now it’s time to clean up spring’s pastel bounty for summer’s bold, colorful displays. This month, we start the garden season in earnest, and the first goal to achieve is deadheading. So, sharpen the deadheaders and pruners, and put on a hat, there’s a lot to do…
Deadheading
June is the month for deadheading spring’s flowers. By simply removing spent blooms, you help promote new blooms and stop plants from setting seeds, which is necessary for plant growth and next year’s flowers.
All those spring bloomers—roses, peonies, irises, and spring-blooming bulbs—require deadheading or shearing. (But don’t cut back the bulb foliage of daffodils, alliums, and others until it has completely turned yellow.) Some perennials, like gaura, are continual bloomers and need deadheading only to clean them up. Others, like ‘Walker’s Low’ catmint, will re-bloom sporadically, holding color through the season if deadheaded regularly.
Shearing perennials is cutting them back to plant size. When the weather turns hot, ‘Sweet Kate’ spiderwort starts to look tired and gets tip-burn from the heat. She needs shearing, which results in another flush of bloom in late summer to early fall.
Foxgloves will continue to bloom into June and July if deadheaded, as will roses and spirea. Note, though, that your Knockout roses don’t need deadheading, but it doesn’t hurt to do a little clean-up of spent blossoms and prune out yellowing leaves.
Pruning
Now is also the time to prune spring-flowering shrubs like rhododendrons, mountain laurels, lilacs, and azaleas. Wait until after July 4th, and you risk the blooms for next season as these set their buds on old wood (this year’s growth). If the shrubs don’t need pruning, deadhead for a cleaner plant.
Don’t forget to prune the clematis after its first flush of blooms. Read here for great pruning info for clematis.
If your garden is full of perennials, it helps to have a perennial reference book to flip through when determining which plants will keep blooming through the summer, which ones need a good haircut, and which ones will need division soon. The Know Maintenance Perennial Garden by Roy Diblik is an excellent place to start for maintenance and perennial design tips.
Weeding
One garden goal you’ll see every month—not just here in June’s list—is weeding, but you probably knew tha! Now is not the time to coast because July brings the whole host of pests, diseases, blight, and well, you name it. The bad news is there is no easy-peasy solution for removing weeds. Keep mulching, yes, with no more than two-to-three inches of mulch, including last year’s mulch, but make a weekly run-through of the vegetable garden and ornamental beds with your weeding tool of choice and stay determined. Keep the garden clean and competition-free with good air circulation and health.
Weeds compete with plants for water, nutrients, and light (and they’re an unsightly mess), so out they go. Knowing your weeds is the best defense. Again, reference books are handy to keep in the garden shed.
Try this book for identifying your weeds, which is the first step in controlling weeds in the garden:Weeds of North America by France Royer and Richard Dickinson.
Watering
As the weather continues to warm up, the weekly watering should be increasing. Our best advice? Get a rain gauge. Plants need an inch of water a week in plant hardiness zone 7a (Asheville proper is in zone 7a. The higher up you live, the lower the zone range, 4,000-foot mountain tops can be zone 5.)
When watering, root drenching is the goal. That means water at the soil level and go around the plant base, ensuring the entire root ball gets wet. The job of the roots is to anchor the plant and serve as a conduit for bringing water and nutrients to the rest of the plant, so establishing the roots is the gardener’s first job. Irrigation is a plus, and soaker hoses work well, too; either way, if you’re using a watering system, double-check every couple of days to ensure that all plants are getting the proper amount of water. Some need more, others need less. Adjust the irrigation as needed and water by hand where necessary.
Succession Sow More Vegetables
It is time to plant those bush beans and succession sow (or use transplants) some early-season crops like lettuces (chose heat-resistant varieties), radishes, carrots, and beets to keep vegetables coming on. Want pumpkins for Halloween? Plant pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, lima beans, and sweet potatoes. And don’t forget to fertilize. June garden chores are focused more on maintaining than planting now that spring is over, so yes, fertilize.
This is a great reference on vegetable gardening for beginners and advanced gardeners.
Summer Bloomers
If spring was stunning, but the summer garden is missing something, consider summer-blooming perennials or shrubs to spruce up a few spots. June is also National Pollinator Month, so look for more information and promotions about pollinating perennials for your garden.
If your gardens tend to have a lot of bloom in spring, but can be lackluster in summer and fall, don’t forget your annuals and flowering summer shrubs (Might we suggest hydrangeas? Here’s more about these lovely bloomers!)
Containers
If you haven’t planted your containers, you still can. The garden center here is overflowing with color, and our staff is happy to help you design. Be sure to water your containers once to twice weekly, depending on plant material, and fertilize blooming annually with a bloom booster every 7 to 10 days.
