June, Full Throttle

June is full-throttle growing season. The frost risk’s gone, the days are long, and the main job now is keeping up rather than starting out.

Sow now (outdoors)

French beans, beetroot, carrots, and salad leaves can still go in for later crops. Swede and winter cabbage for autumn/winter harvests. Last call for sweetcorn in most regions.

Plant out

Any remaining tender crops — courgettes, squash, tomatoes if you’re behind. Leeks for autumn harvest.

Harvest

Strawberries, broad beans, early potatoes, peas, salad leaves, and the first courgettes. Soft fruit season is properly underway.

Prune

Early-summer-flowering shrubs once they’ve finished. Trim spring-flowering hedges. Deadhead roses to keep them flowering.

General jobs

Watering becomes the main task — deep, infrequent watering beats a daily light sprinkle for root development. Keep on top of weeds while they’re small and manageable. Tie in climbing beans, sweet peas, and tomatoes as they shoot up. If you sowed a meadow this year, pull up any dock or thistle by hand while it’s still establishing. And rake blanketweed out of the pond by hand regularly now, before the warm weather lets it take over.

This weekend

Pinch out the sideshoots on cordon tomatoes if you haven’t been keeping up — a few minutes now saves a tangled mess later.

Growing conditions even out more across the UK by June, but the North, Scotland, and Northern Ireland still trail slightly for heat-loving crops.