Filling the “June Gap” – Maggie’s garden notes for June

Maggie from Thetford Garden and Allotment Club shares her June gardening tips, from early potato harvesting to managing the ‘June Gap’ with blooming peonies and sweet peas.

June is here with long days to enjoy your garden or allotment. There’s a lot to do but do make sure you take time to just sit and enjoy your hard work!

If you planted early potatoes you may be able to harvest some now. They’re delicious when the size of a hen’s egg, boiled with a sprig of fresh mint and served with a knob of butter. Once tomatoes start to set fruit use a high potassium liquid feed, applied in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions to maximise the harvest. If the temperature soars make sure the greenhouse is well ventilated, and if necessary add some shading. Damping down the floor also helps to increase humidity and keep the temperature down.

If you’ve been enjoying home grown asparagus it’s time to stop harvesting later this month in order for the plants to regain strength for next year, applying a dressing of blood, fish and bone helps too. The garden can often experience the ‘June Gap’, the bit between spring and summer displays. Peonies, roses, sweet peas and hardy geraniums can help to fill this gap, or visit your local garden centre or nursery and treat yourself to something in bloom!

Keep tying in sweet peas and feeding them, pick or dead head frequently to keep them flowering. Climbing and rambling roses are growing at a rate of knots, tie the stems in horizontally so that more flowering sideshoots are produced.

This month sees a Botanical Art and Flower Festival based on Psalm 23 from the 20th to 22nd June at St Cuthbert’s Church in town; as well as the wonderful Thetford Open Gardens in aid of St Nicholas Hospice on Sunday 22nd. Programmes are now available from the Leaping Hare and Thetford Garden Centre. Have a wander around, buy a plant or two and, of course, enjoy a cup of tea and some delicious cake!

Enjoy your gardening!
Maggie Baldwin