Tips for June 2025

As soon as soft fruit starts to ripen, such as blue berries, strawberries and gooseberries, protect them from birds by netting taut and securely.

Repot house plants that have become root bound in a container the next size up from their current one. Separate the tangled roots before putting the plant into a peat free house plant potting compost.

Use a high potassium liquid fertiliser on tomatoes and peppers every 10-14 days once the first fruit has set. Pinch out the side shoots of cordon tomatoes.

Plant out sweet corn 40 cm apart, but in blocks rather than rows as this aids pollination by the wind.

Harvest early potatoes when the flowers open or flower buds drop. Tubers are ready when they are the size of hens eggs.

After flowering, cut oriental poppies, lupins and delphiniums back to the base for a new flush of foliage and potentially more flowers.

Dahlias, cannas and other tender plants can be planted out now the risk of frost has passed, Plant in a fertile soil in a warm sunny spot.

Sow kale, calabrese, spring cauliflower and winter (Savoy) cabbage this month for autumn and winter harvests.

Thin fruit on plums to prevent overladen branches breaking but wait until after the “June drop” of excess developing fruitlets.

Prune Clematis Montana after flowering by removing overcrowded, dead or diseased stems. This species tolerates hard pruning, so you can cut plants down to nearly ground level.