Mzzz B's June Garden

Aeonium Voodoo

Shropshire Lad Rose with allium seedheads

Summer Bulb-Tritelia with marigolds

American Pillar Rose

It's been a very busy month in our garden, suddenly after that spring of cold weather and cold nights the garden has burst into growth and blossom. Plants seem to grow overnight with all the rain we had from the storms, making up for such a long period without rain. But gardening in this sort of weather is tricky. Reading newspaper articles about the UK's chronic shortage of water we really do have to think how we might manage periods of drought, such as we have been having recently.

Tips for managing a dry garden.

• Most plants can manage if when you plant them you fill the planting hole with water and let it drain before planting, this gives the plant a damp root space.
• Water the roots not the leaves.
• Only water early morning or evening.
• If you have Tattenhall clay then your soil goes rock hard in drought. Difficult to manage at this point as water just runs off, and not down into the plant roots. Next winter try and put as much humus/leaf mould/home made compost on the soil as a mulch, this should keep the clay moist and then the plants can get to the water in it. Even a covering of gravel would work- and make a gravel garden with Mediterranean -grey leaved plants.-(see Beth Chatto's famous garden in Essex which has some of the lowest rainfall in the UK).
• You can use grey water from the kitchen, but be careful on edible plants. Not too much detergent rich water. Save the cold water from the hot tap until it runs cold and use this as well. Water newly planted things, but try to hold off from watering plants that have deeper roots they should be fine.

We all have to think about what is happening to our climate and start to grow plants that enjoy this sort of weather. It is interesting to look at the garden now- roses seem to have done remarkably well, some of the more tender plants suffered with the wet and frosts over the winter, so there are a few losses around the garden. Even Monty Don on Gardeners World on BBC2 has started to rethink his garden

Main jobs in June and July are deadheading and cutting back plants that have gone over, harvesting veg crops.

• Continue sowing peas, beans, lettuces- soak the space you want to sow in first then cover seed and water again.
• Thin out apples- to one or two per stem.
• Prune spring flowering shrubs, cutting out dead or dying stems and crossing stems, then look at shape of shrub.
• take softwood cuttings of hydrangeas and fuschias.
• Feed annuals in pots regular to help to continue to flower., also feed to tomato, courgettes and pumpkins.