Sow & Grow - June

There's plenty to do in your garden in June, if only keeping on top of all the weeding and slugs!!

It's been quite a slow start this year, even though we had some warm and sunny days near the end of May, it has been a relatively cool spring. Lots of gardening and growing groups I am part of are all saying seeds have been slow to germinate, and plants such as sweet peas and dahlias are taking their time in getting going.

Seeds to sow

Yes. There ARE seeds to sow in June! Plenty in fact.

Now that the soil in your garden is warm, and the risk of frost has passed, there are lots of seeds you can sow directly in to your flower beds, borders, or outdoor containers.

Annual flower seeds, which will grow and flower this year:

• Calendula

• Candytuft

• Godetia

• Larkspur

• Nigella

• Sunflower

• Cosmos

Teeny tiny Calendula seeds, sown last week

June is the ideal time to get a head start on next year as well. Sow biennial flower seeds now, give them a little bit of love and attention through the heat of summer (🤞🏻fingers crossed!), and plant them out in autumn. These types of plants grow their foliage and roots in the first year, most either die back or look fairly small and bedraggled over winter, then next year will grow into strong, early flowering plants.

Lots of cut flowers are, or can be grown as, biennials - some are true biennials such as Foxglove which will only flower in its second year, and some which we class as annuals such as Sweet Peas that can be sown this year to flower weeks earlier than expected next year.

Biennial seeds to sow in June:

• Wallflower

• Foxglove

• Sweet William

• Hesperis

• Honesty

• Icelandic Poppy

• Forget-me-not

Leave the others (annual/hardy annual types) until later in the year, otherwise they will just try to flower this year then go over.

What to grow

If you have sown annual flower seeds earlier in the year, duly thinned out and potted on as you carefully nurtured them through the cold-ish spring, now is the time to get them planted up outside if you haven't already.

All risk of frost should have now passed, so you will just need a little protection from the wildlife (slugs, caterpillars, birds looking for slugs & caterpillars, cats (probably looking for birds, or somewhere to poop!)), a bit of staking or netting to help them grow tall and strong, and a regular feed, weed and water routine (see, there's nothing to this gardening lark!)

If you missed the seed sowing bus, it's not too late for some (see above), but there is a plethora of plants available from garden centres, plant sales, allotment sales, and people selling their excess seedlings on Facebook marketplace.

Why not buy savvy? A lot of early flowering perennials are now being sold off at garden centres because the flowers have died back. Pop them in your garden (don't forget to put the label next to it in case it completely dies back over winter), and they'll come back next spring. Most of the biennial plants that are available in full flower now will look fabulous for another few weeks, then simply collect the seed or let them self seed, the seedlings will grow large enough to be transplanted to where you want them to be for next year, and 'Bob's-your-uncle' - free plants!

Until next time,

With love,

Sarah x