June Gardening Checklist

If you are an outdoor enthusiast who enjoy gardening and a well-manicured lawn, most likely you have planted your summer vegetable garden, mowed your lawn a couple of times to control weeds, or simply have planted some annual or perennial flowers to attract butterflies and other pollinating insects. Our climate in Mississippi affords us the opportunity to have a long growing season and we can actually plant two summer gardens before transitioning into fall production. As the weather begins to warm into the 90’s—I would like to share some gardening tips for the month of June to ensure you have a successful growing season.

Tips for the YARD:

Prune spring-flowering shrubs after blooms fade.
Apply fungicide to prevent and control black spot on roses.
Water newly-planted trees and shrubs. Water deeply every seven to 10 days when rain is lacking.
Propagate deciduous shrubs, such as forsythia, lilac, pyracantha and weigela, by stem tip cuttings.
Remove faded flowers and seed pods on lilac and other spring-flowering shrubs.
Keep grass mowed regularly, but mow high to help protect the crown of the plant from heat stress. Sharpen mower blade as needed.
Lawn clippings, unless excessive, should be left on the lawn.
To keep lawn green and growing, water as needed to supply a total of 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week. If left not watered, lawns will turn brown and become dormant during extended hot, dry spells, but will green up again when conditions are more favorable.

Tips for the GARDEN:

Keep weeds controlled. They’re easier to pull when they are still young.
Plan now for your Halloween pumpkin. Determine the days to harvest for the particular variety you want to plant (usually on the seed packet), and count backward to determine the proper planting date.
Continue planting southern peas, squash, cucumbers beans and peppers for successive harvests.
Fertilize or side-dress your vegetables, as needed.
For staked tomatoes, remove suckers (branches that form where the leaf joins the stem) while they are 1 to 1.5 inches long to allow easier training.
Remove spent blooms of peony, iris, delphiniums and other flowers.
Pinch shoot tips of impatiens, petunias and coleus to promote bushier growth.
Remove tops of spring-flowering bulbs only after they have yellowed and withered.
Pick ripen vegetables from the garden.
Protect ripening figs from birds by covering with netting.
Supplement natural rainfall, as needed, to supply a total of 1 to 1.5 inches of water per week to the garden.