June Yard and Garden Tasks
June is when the Reno garden really starts to show its intentions. The roses are blooming, the tomatoes are finally beginning to grow, and the weeds seem to have declared war. A few hours spent in the yard now can make the difference between a productive summer and a season spent trying to catch up.
June sunshine in northern Nevada can be surprisingly intense. Container plants may need daily watering, and newly planted vegetables often require extra attention during hot, windy afternoon.
Here is set of activities to keep things looking good
1. Deadhead Your Perennials and Annual Flowers
To encourage continued flowering, perennials and annual flowers should be deadheaded this month. As the blooms fade, make sure to cut off or pinch the dead flowers.
2. Mulch Now to Lock in Moisture
As those seeds sprout and seedlings take-off, add a nice thick layer of seed-free mulch to conserve moisture and smother weeds. Straw (be sure it hasn’t been sprayed with persistent herbicide!), shredded leaves, or even shredded paper can be used here.
With increasing temps, soil dries out more rapidly. Shift to deep watering once or twice a week to build drought-resistant roots and reduce surface evaporation.Veggies need around one inch of water per week, so you will need to irrigate. Take a three-pronged approach to garden water conservation:
- Choose native or locally-adapted plants when possible.
- Add a good layer of mulch.
- Water deeply to encourage deep roots.
3. Feed Hungry Plants
Fertilize vegetables, annuals, and perennials with a balanced 10-10-10 formula to support lush foliage and steady blooms.
4. Stake Fast-Growing Tomatoes and Tall Plants
Support your tomato vines with stakes or cages. They don’t have tendrils, so you’ll need to train or tie as they grow. Other vines like cucumbers and runner beans can climb on their own after you provide the trellis.
5. Control Pests Before They Take Over
Be on the lookout for both insects and weeds this month. Inspect leaves and stems for aphids, beetles, and squash bugs. Use neem oil, insecticidal soap, or hand-pick to stay in control.
Take steps to keep weeds under control,
6. Harvest Early Crops and Succession Plant
Pick mature lettuce, spinach, peas, and radishes to encourage continued production and make room for succession planting.
Sow new rounds of quick-maturing crops like beans, carrots, or zucchini now to keep the harvest rolling into late summer.
If you haven’t already, it’s time to plant or transplant your warm-season veggies. Think eggplant, peppers, okra, melons, squash, and tomatoes.
You can continue starting from seed throughout the season as long as you can give the seeds some extra attention – in the form of water – on hot days.
7. Prune Spring Bloomers
Trim back lilacs, forsythia, and other spring-flowering shrubs right after they finish blooming to shape them and set up strong blooms next year.
8. Divide Your Spring-Flowering Perennials
Digging up and dividing your spring-flowering perennials is an essential June gardening task. Separate the root clumps into several plants, then plant them elsewhere in your garden. Or, share your extra perennials with a neighbor, friend or family member.
9. Watch Over Your Rose Bushes
June is prime rose season. Continue deadheading spent blooms, fertilize regularly, and keep an eye out for aphids and signs of disease. A few minutes of attention now will pay off with another round of flowers later in the summer.
10. Check Container Plants Daily
Potted plants dry quickly in early summer. Water daily in heat, feed weekly, and rotate pots for even growth.
11. Thin Your Fruit Trees
For healthy, abundant fruit at harvest time, make thinning overloaded fruit trees a part of your June gardening. Apple, peach, pear and apricot trees should be thinned so that the fruits are about a hand-width apart. It may feel wrong to remove healthy fruit, but thinning apples, peaches, pears, and apricots allows the remaining fruit to grow larger and helps prevent broken branches later in the season.
12. Pull out (or purchase) netting for your plants.
Birds seem to know exactly when fruit is reaching peak ripeness. If you’ve got peaches, apples, berries, or grapes, now is the time to install netting before the local wildlife starts sampling the menu.
Grab a neighbor to assist in getting the netting up and over your fruit trees.
Closing thought
This is not a June specific task but a good idea to add to your gardening activies .Take a walk with your camera and journal. Schedule a regular time to observe your yard and garden. Take along a camera and your journal to record what you see. Try to take notes every day, so you don’t forget. Garden record keeping is a good way to avoid last year’s mishaps and repeat triumphs.
From personal experience, if I had done this, I would have know what seeds I planted in late Mach (that did not germinate), what I planted in April (that did not germinate) and what I planted over them in May. Then I would know what was popping up when those early planted seeds finally decided to germinate. I had lots of new growth where it was not expected.
A journal may not have stopped me from getting too active too early but would have given me some information on what was where and perhaps minimized the amount of replanting I am now doing.
