Can you pick the best garden job this month, when there are so many?! There is so much happening this month, the weather is heating up and the longest day of the year is approaching on the 21st of June.

The weather so far this month has been hot and dry! Meaning lots of watering and sun cream in the garden! With hardly any rain and weather temperature warming up to mid-twenties the watering regime is full-on. Remember, the best time to water is early in the morning or in the evening when the weather is cooler. Watering at the peak of the day, a lot of water will be evaporated and lost before reaching plant roots.

In the previous month, I’ve shown you my ultimate watering spray gun – Multi Spray Ultramax. It is my absolute essential tool when it comes to watering my garden. Inside the polytunnel, I have shown you my Hozelock dripper irrigation setup, but here is also a rectangular sprinkler pro! It is an adjustable water sprinkler and it does a fantastic job in watering evenly my raised beds. I like to position it in between the two raised beds and whilst it is watering two beds at once – I can get on with some weeding jobs! A win-win!

There isn’t much that cannot be done this month – lots of watering, planting out, sowing, mulching weeding and harvesting first crops. With all the sowing and planting happening during this busy month, I have to mention the best bit… which is of course enjoying the garden space and the food it brings on the plate in the first place. Personally, the best job this month is starting to see the “fruit” of the hard work that was put in earlier in the year.

All my salad is fresh from the garden by this time of the year. I will have a selection of lettuce, spinach, rainbow radish, spring onion. Not to forget my first cucumbers of the season and windowsill tomatoes (started in December).

I’ll also have lots of cooked leafy greens, that will include swiss chard and kale. I will be harvesting the last batch of the overwintered greens and planting out new seedling that will carry on filling baskets with goodness for the rest of the year.

With the danger of frost over, it is time to plant out everything, that has been started earlier in the year indoors (or sow directly outside). I’ve finally planted out all my courgette, squash and pumpkin plants. I’ve started my plants indoors in April, but if you forgot to sow your seeds earlier – do this now.

Next, I plant out all my climbing plants, that I grow vertically on the arches. This year I have outdoor cucumbers (Piko and Crystal Apple), runner beans (Lady Di) and some of the smaller size climbing squash i.e. Uchiki Kuri, Turks Turban, Tromboncino. Personally, I find runner beans grow better and have stronger roots when sown directly outdoors, but I also start few plants earlier in May to give them a kick start.

By now all my tomatoes are also flowering and forming first tomatoes, so feeding plants is a regular activity. Usually, I will aim to feed my plants once a week on a dedicated day (easier to remember). So “Feeding Friday” seems to be working well. By the end of this month, I am looking at having all 22 raised beds filled, whether that’s sown seeds, growing plants or ready for picking and harvesting vegetables.

Happy gardening!

Diana started @good_life_garden in January 2020 to engage and inspire others to grow their own, whether that’s vegetables, flowers or microgreens on your windowsill.

She wanted to show, that gardening is FUN and it doesn’t need to be hard work. It’s a lot easier than many people might think it is. She is excited to “upgrade” her watering systems and habits – starting with an irrigation system in her greenhouse and making her own natural feed using a Hozelock BioMix.