As we enter June, gardening tasks include harvest of spring crops and continued planting of warm weather crops. Weed and pest management become important, and moisture management requires vigilance as temperatures rise and rainfall typically decreases.
If you follow the planting schedule for Hardiness Zone 7a in Extension Publication 426-331, “Virginia’s Home Garden Vegetable Planting Guide,” you should be harvesting a nice crop of spring vegetables. June is planting time for beans, cucumbers, eggplant, melons, okra, peppers, pumpkins, winter and summer squash, sweet corn, sweet potato, and tomatoes.
To maximize production in your garden space, change from row planting to Intensive Gardening Methods. Planting in raised or in-ground beds that are 3 or 4 feet wide, rather than single rows, allows denser plant spacing. Using trellises or other climbing structures for vining crops can be a great space saver. Be sure not to shade lower sun-loving crops with your trellises. On the other hand, shading lettuces and some greens during the hot weather can delay bolting, so manage shade strategically.
Successive plantings of beans and corn can extend the harvest season. Time planting and harvests to open garden space in late August for planting fall crops. The Garden Shed article Plant Partnerships in your Garden offers advice on planting a diversity of plants together for soil enhancement, pest control, and other benefits.
Water Management
Water is becoming an increasingly valued resource. We are all wise to work to minimize water waste:
- Now that the ground has warmed, apply organic mulches such as leaves, straw, and clean grass to conserve water while also suppressing weeds and enriching soil as it decomposes.
- Vegetables require about an inch of water per week during the growing season. Soaker hoses or drip irrigation make the most efficient use of water during dry spells.
- The soil surface dries quickly in summer heat. Put your finger a couple of inches into the soil to determine whether it is truly dry. You should be able to feel moisture. Moist soil also tends to be darker and stick together better than if it is dry.
- Water in the mornings and avoid splashing water and soil on plants to minimize the risks of mildew and soil-borne disease transmission. Remove lower leaves on tomato plants to prevent inadvertent soil contact.
Other suggestions for garden management this month:
Rotate crop locations, preferably on a 3-year cycle. Planting the same item in the same space in consecutive years invites the proliferation of pests and diseases.
It is better to plant corn in blocks than rows. Corn is wind- pollinated, and bunching plants together results in more complete pollination.
Cool mornings are the optimum time to pick vegetables for best texture and taste.
Stop harvesting asparagus when spears become thin, usually around mid-June.
Delay lettuce bolting in summer heat by shading it with taller plants or floating row covers. Also, try planting bolt-resistant varieties such as Muir, Sierra, and Nevada.
Mound soil up around potato vines when vines are about 12” long. New potatoes grow on thin stems called stolons. Longer underground main stems produce more potatoes. Hilling also prevents the tubers from being exposed to the sun and turning green. Repeat once or twice during the growing season, adding 6-8” of soil or mulch to the original soil level.
By June, our cole crops (cabbage, broccoli, kale, collards etc.) will be invaded by a variety of cabbage worms, including loopers, imported cabbage moth worms, and the dreaded cross-striped cabbage worm. They are tough to control but can be managed. Holes chewed in leaves and dark excrement piles on leaves are the signs of attack. If hand picking, look for yellow eggs on the undersides of leaves as a start. Pull the caterpillars off leaves regularly; they do fast damage when uncontrolled. They can also be managed with row covers or with the organic pesticide Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), available at garden centers. For more details review OMG What’s Eating the Broccoli from the June 2018 issue of The Garden Shed and 2022 Pest Management Guide: Home Grounds & Animals/VCE.
It’s always good to have some compost cooking. If you’ve saved some leaves and/or yard trimmings from last fall, combine them with grass clippings and kitchen fruit/vegetable cuttings to generate compost that you can apply to your beds prior to winter. If you are short of “brown” inputs, torn up chemical-free papers including paper towels, napkins, pizza boxes, and corrugated boxes are good replacements. I find that roughly equal volumes of grass clippings and mulched leaves is about right to achieve a hot compost batch.
If your compost doesn’t get hot, add more grass and kitchen scraps. If it is slimy or gives off an ammonia smell, add leaves, wood chips, sawdust (not pressure treated) or another carbon source. Keep the pile moist but not dripping and turn it every week or so to keep it aerated. A second heap can take regular additions of materials as they become available throughout the summer. It decomposes more slowly and less uniformly than the hot pile, but still produces a beautiful product in the end. It’s worth the effort! For more detailed guidance, look at the Garden Shed article Backyard Composting with Practical Tips from the Pros.
People often ask if it is okay to include citrus peel in compost. The answer is that if you are “vermicomposting” — where the decomposition is done primarily by special “red wiggler” earthworms — don’t include them. But if you are composting outdoors and the initial decomposition is done by bacteria and fungi before the worms move in, it is fine to add them.
Herbs planted in average soil need no fertilizer. Too much fertilizer may reduce flavor and pungency.
The best time to harvest most herbs is just before flowering, when the leaves contain the maximum essential oils. Cut herbs early on a sunny day.
Basil, a summer favorite herb, is susceptible to downy mildew. It is a fungal disease that can come from infected seeds, transplants or via wind blown spores from other infected plants. If your basil leaves turn yellow-brown and curl up, with a purplish fuzz on the leaf underside, remove and dispose of the plant to prevent spreading. Resistant varieties are available and work well. Look for them when purchasing seed. For more information on growing and using basil check Garden Shed article Basil: Beautiful and Aromatic.
Thin overloaded fruit trees; this will result in fewer but larger and better quality fruit at harvest time.
If birds are threatening your strawberries, consider covering plants with netting or row cover after plants are pollinated and berries are set. Hanging aluminum pie tins or CDs above the plants may also deter birds.
For information on fruit growing in your home garden check out “Selecting Plants for Virginia Landscapes” from the VA Cooperative Extension.
Sources:
“Strawberries in the Home Garden,” NC State Extension, NC State.edu
“Vertical Gardening Using Trellises, Stakes and Cages,” VA.Coop.Ext. Pub.HORT-189
“Growing Potatoes in Home Gardens”, University of Minnesota Extension.
