Planting Guides - month by month - follow these proven tips  

 

JUNE

 

Nurture your soil

Make 1 cubic metre of hot compost to rot down ready for Spring. Turn at least once.

Make a new batch of liquid manure and use fortnightly to maintain growth.

Make a batch of leaf mould compost

Lime soil for onions

Mulch to insulate the soil from cold and also so that winter rain can break it down and feed roots.

 

Plant care

Sow:

Legumes – broad beans, peas

Leaf – lettuce

Brassicas – cabbage, radish

Allium – shallots

​

Plant out :

Seedlings of bulb onions on Winter solstice (21st June)

garlic

fruit trees

Strike hardwood cuttings- grapes, figs

 

Maintenance

Spray fruit trees with white oil to prevent aphids,

Prune grapevine and discard old woody stems and thin overcrowded branches from fruit trees,

Remove any diseased prunings,

Mulch wet spots on paths with woodchip,

Lay traps for snails.

 

Harvest

Beetroot, broad beans, broccoli, brussel sprouts, carrots, coriander, lettuce, mitzuna, parsley,parsnip, peas, silver beet, spinach, swede, tatsoi, turnip. Dig dry and store potatoes and jerusalem artichokes.

​

Compost

Aliveness - Micro-organisms help break down the compost. Add some mature compost to get them started.

Diversity - Add a variety of dry/brown(Carbon) and wet/green(Nitrogen)  

Aeration  - Air is necessary to efficiently decompose organic waste.Turning helps aerate. If it smells, it has become anaerobic, so turn thoroughly to aerate

Moisture - Compost needs to be damp, not soggy. If too dry, add more green or water lightly. If too wet, turn and add more dry materials like leaves or sawdust to help absorb moisture.

​

TIPS   Compost... compost... compost!

Improves the soil structure and texture, porosity and density, creating a better environment for plant roots;

improves the soil's water holding capacity, reducing water loss and leaching;

supplies a variety of  nutrients to the soil;

may control or suppress soil born pathogens; improves the cation exchange capacity of soils, improving their ability to hold nutrients;

supplies beneficial micro-organisms to soils;

encourages worm activity;

improves and stabilises soil pH;

can bind and degrade pollutants;

reduces the amount of waste sent to landfill;

actively absorbs or sequesters greenhouse gases.