June garden tasks include harvesting spring crops and continued planting of warm weather crops. Weed and pest management become important, and moisture 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,” June is time to plant beans, cucumbers, eggplant, melons, okra, peppers, pumpkins, winter and summer squash, sweet corn, sweet potatoes, and tomatoes.
Harvests will likely be completed for spring crops including asparagus, some cabbage family members and some greens. Idled space can be managed effectively in several ways that we will discuss.
Soil Care
Regardless of current activity, caring for the soil makes sense. If new items are planted, mulch around and between them after plants are germinated, and tall enough to catch the sun above the mulch.
If bed space will be idled, mulching is an option to protect the soil. A better one is to plant a fast-growing cover crop, like Buckwheat, that grows well in summer, draws a lot of pollinators and matures in about 6 weeks, so can be cut prior to fall planting. The cut vegetation can be used as green mulch or provide a nitrogen boost for a fall compost batch.
If the goal is a quick conversion to new crops, Interplanting, grouping plants together to cover the soil while reducing pest and disease issues, is another option.
Similarly, Intensive Gardening Methods advocates designing beds and grouping plants in ways that cover the soil and provide diversity that benefits soil health.
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.
We have talked many times about how using trellises can help maximize production in a given space. A good summer use is to plant greens or other cool weather plants behind active trellises to take advantage of the shade they provide, allowing the greens to stay cooler and extend their harvest season. Row covers can also slow bolting. Also try planting bolt-resistant varieties such as Muir, Sierra, and Nevada to extend the greens growing season.
Successive plantings of beans and corn can extend their harvest seasons.
If intending to plant fall crops, check time to maturity of June plantings to be sure that bed space will be available in time for fall planting.
Water Management
Water is an increasingly valued resource. We are all wise to minimize water waste:
- Now that the ground has warmed, apply organic mulches such as leaves, straw, and clean grass to conserve soil moisture while also suppressing weeds and enriching soil as it decomposes.
- Vegetables require about an inch of water per week during the summer. Soaker hoses or drip irrigation make 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 dry.
- Water plants in the morning and avoid splashing water and soil on leaves to reduce the risk of mildew and soil-borne disease transmission. Remove lower leaves on tomato plants to prevent inadvertent soil contact.
Other suggestions for June garden management:
Avoid growing a single crop in the same space repeatedly. This can be done by rotating crops to different areas or by interplanting, mixing a diversity of crops together. Planting the same item in the same space in consecutive years invites pest and disease issues.
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.
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.
In June, cole crops (cabbage, broccoli, kale, collards etc.) will likely 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 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 Garden Shed article OMG What’s Eating the Broccoli and 2023 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 waste 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/kitchen waste and mulched leaves/straw/wood chips are about right to achieve a hot compost batch.
If your compost doesn’t get hot, add more nitrogen with grass and kitchen scraps. If it is slimy or gives off an ammonia smell, add leaves, paper, 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 or Backyard Composting from the VA Cooperative Extension.
If a spring compost batch is ready for use, by all means add some to beds and scratch it into the soil surface prior to planting, to give the soil an organic matter and nutrient boost.
At our plant sale in May, several people asked if it is okay to compost citrus peels. 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, protozoans and fungi before earthworms 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 favorite summer 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.
If birds are threatening your strawberries, cover 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 Tree Fruit in the Home Garden and Small Fruit in the Home Garden 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.
Featured photo: June Vegetable Garden. Photo: R Morini
