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The Fernwood Almanac

June in the garden in the Fernwood Almanac, Ludlow, Shropshire

Roses, and the first month where the job is keeping things going rather than getting them started. Deadhead, water properly, and take cuttings while the wood is soft.

PlateThe rose beds in first flush, June
In flower

In the nursery and in a garden within about ten miles of Ludlow.

What is out in June

  • Rose RosaThe first flush, and the best one. Feed after it.
  • Foxglove Digitalis purpureaBiennial. Sow this month for next June, every June.
  • Hardy geranium Geranium 'Rozanne'Starts now and does not stop until November.
  • Delphinium Delphinium elatumStaked in May, magnificent in June, flattened in July if not.
  • Mock orange Philadelphus coronariusTen days of the best scent in the garden.
  • Astrantia Astrantia majorShade, damp, and flowers for four months if you keep cutting it.
Planting calendar

Written for the Marches, where the last frost is usually the middle of May and the first is usually the end of October.

Jobs for June

Deadhead

  • Roses, back to the first five-leaflet leaf, not just the flower.
  • Everything in a pot, every few days. It is the difference between six weeks and sixteen.

Sow

  • Biennials for next year: foxgloves, wallflowers, sweet william, honesty.
  • Successional salad and French beans, a short row every fortnight.

Take cuttings

  • Softwood cuttings of penstemon, salvia, fuchsia and hydrangea. Non-flowering shoots, morning, straight into a bag.

Water

  • New plantings get a full can once a week, not a splash daily. A soaking sends roots down; a sprinkle keeps them at the surface.
  • Start feeding tomatoes as soon as the first truss has set.
On the benches

What we have in during June

  • Roses in flower, so you can smell before you buy
  • Patio and container plants
  • Herbs, the full range
  • Tomato feed and seaweed extract
  • Watering cans, hose fittings, timers

Stock turns over with the calendar. If you are after something specific, ring on 01584 555 0234 before you drive over and we will walk out and look.

From the nursery

A note on this month

Nobody buys a rose from a catalogue picture and gets the scent they were expecting. We hold ours back and put them out in flower in June for exactly that reason: come and put your nose in them, then buy the one that made you stop.

Ellie Fern, Head of nursery
What's on

Annual fixtures, so the dates move by a day or two but the months do not.

Around this time of year