Are you growing your own fruit, veggies or herbs this year? June’s a busy month with so much sowing, planting, watering, weeding, feeding and pest control to do, but it should start paying dividends soon if it hasn’t given you crops already.

Even if you haven’t done anything to get your kitchen garden started yet this year, there’s still time to get many types of seeds sown. The ground’s warmed up now so growth will be quicker, and almost all kinds of plants stand a very good chance of catching up with earlier sowings. The exceptions are chillies, sweet peppers, tomatoes and the slower growing pumpkins – you’ll need to ask around for young plants among your gardening friends or buy them in as established seedlings from a garden centre now or you won’t get a crop .

What to sow in June (all outdoors)

Now the risk of frost has passed, all the following seeds can be sown outdoors. The more heat-loving plants may benefit from some protection with a cloche, or from being sown in a sheltered, sunny spot.

· Beetroot
· Broccoli & calabrese
· Carrots
· Chard and leaf beet / perpetual spinach
· Chicory
· Courgettes and summer squash
· Cucumbers (outdoor types, last chance)
· Fennel (Florence / vegetable)
· French and runner beans
· Kale
· Kohl rabi
· Lettuce and other salad leaves
· Oriental greens (pak choi, choi sum etc)
· Peas
· Radishes
· Rocket
· Soft herbs (last chance)
· Spinach
· Spring onions
· Swedes
· Sweetcorn (last chance)
· Turnips
· Winter squash and pumpkins (fast-growing types only)

There are a few other garden jobs to do in June to make your kitchen garden more productive, including planting out many kinds of seedlings sown earlier in the gardening year, starting with planting out some more seedlings.

Planting out in June

· Brassica seedlings: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kale
· Sun-loving plants: aubergines, peppers, tomatillos, outdoor tomatoes
· Cucurbits: courgette, cucumber, pumpkin, summer & winter squash
· Others: beans, celeriac, celery, leeks, sweetcorn

Care of vegetables in June

· Feed aubergines, chillies, sweet peppers and tomatoes regularly with potassium / potash rich food once they start forming fruit
· Pinch out broad bean tops
· Pinch out side shoots of vine tomatoes (cordon / indeterminate types)
· Prune woody herbs after their flowers have died back
· Stop harvesting asparagus at the end of this month
· Tie in peas and beans if they need support

Care of fruit in June

· Net fruit carefully against birds
· Pick all ripe fruit regularly
· Pinch out fig tree shoot tips
· Protect strawberries from dirt and slugs
· Put up moth traps if needed
· Remove unwanted strawberry runners, peg down & propagate the rest
· Stop harvesting rhubarb at the end of this month
· Thin out apple, pear and other tree fruitlets if necessary
· Tie in summer-fruiting raspberry canes, blackberry canes and selected shoots of any wall-trained fruit trees

Other garden jobs in June

· Apply mulch around plants for moisture retention

Jobs to keep on top of in June

· Checking for pests and diseases
· Control slugs and snails
· Earthing up potatoes and Jerusalem artichokes
· Tying in growing plants
· Ventilating greenhouses and cloches
· Watering regularly
· Weeding

If you have a kitchen garden or allotment, what are you thinking about sowing this month? Old favourites or something new?