Hello June!!!! Hooray! June is our favourite month in the veg patch here at Rocket Gardens. It’s the month that those of us that fancy growing at home take away a few plants to pop in our own veg patches as both the weather and the soil have warmed up and we know that the plants will positively thrive from now on.
Mike (the owner of Rocket Gardens) has always advised us to wait until June to plant out and ignore the national trend of rushing to plant out in early May. In May, he argues, we are still at risk of frost and the soil hasn’t really warmed up, but by late May/early June spring is in full swing and plants have a much better chance of growing well. Mike himself tends not to plant up his veg patch until mid-June and he always gets a good crop.
So if you haven’t yet planted your veg patch, then don’t think it’s too late…you still have plenty of time and some veggies are even better when planted a little later into late June/early July. Sweetcorn, for example, doesn’t tend to get planted by farmers until mid June, beans and squashes are brilliant when planted out towards the end of spring and many gardeners swear by planting brassicas later on in the summer.
If you have already planted, then there’s nothing to stop you from adding a few extra things – lettuces and leaves can easily be planted in between rows of slower growers, planting a second batch of leeks and onions, or beetroots will give you a longer harvest time and they hardly take up any space.
As well as being the optimum time for planting, June is also a month where you see real growth in the veg patch, so make sure you’re out there as often as possible checking that plants have enough water, keeping weeds down and watching out for pests and diseases.