June Garden Calendar

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How to Garden in June

For a big splash of color after blossoms of lilacs and other spring-blooming shrubs fade, choose some shrubs that bloom in summer. In partial shade, hydrangeas are a good choice. Panicle hydrangea, with white, cone-shaped blossoms, is hardy through zone 3. In zone 6 (or in zone 5, if your site is protected from winter winds), you can also enjoy the showy globe-shaped blossoms of bigleaf hydrangea.
If you have rose varieties that are prone to black spot and mildew, spray or dust plants with a fungicide.
Thin your crowded flower and vegetable seedlings to allow for good air circulation. In zones 2 and 3, thinning also helps plants make the most of the short growing season.
In zone 5 or 6, cut growing tips of blackberry canes as soon as they're 3 feet tall to encourage blooms and fruit production.
Where drought persists, make the most of available water. Work a layer of compost into the soil to keep it spongy. Use mulch to slow evaporation from the soil. Collect rainwater from downspouts.
For compact chrysanthemums that won't sag to the ground when plants are loaded with blooms in the fall, pinch off growing tips of the plants. If you have a lot of mums, use grass shears to make quick work of this job. Cut mums by mid-June in zones 2 or 3, by the end of June in zones 4 or 5. If you live in zone 6, your mums will still bloom satisfactorily as long as you finish pinching plants by mid-July.
If the lower leaves of your tomato plants are spotted, remove the damaged foliage to slow down the spread of fungus diseases. Severe disease problems require spraying once a week with Bordeaux mixture, an old fungicide still regarded as one of the safest, or Soap-Shield, a new copper soap available from Gardens Alive.
Delay spreading mulch until the soil is warm.