June, garden work
June 1, 2021 4 Comments
June, the sixth month of the year, summer has just begun and our garden is at its best. Vegetables, aromatic plants and fruit trees show vigorous growth and abundant fruiting and we should be by their side to take care of them.
So let’s go out this season in the garden or on the balcony of our house, do our gardening work while enjoying our favorite hobby. Some of us will wake up early in the morning to tend to our plants while others will tend to their garden at dusk as the sun sets.
June is an important month for the care of our plants as we will have to deal with the late planting of vegetables, the harvesting of fresh fruits and vegetables as well as the collection and drying of our aromatic plants and herbs.
Also, this month, it is necessary to take the appropriate ecological and biological measures to protect our gardens from insects and the tetranych, to protect the vine and to deal with the olive borer.
So we procure the appropriate tools and equipment, gloves, hoes, shovels, carving tools and start the necessary garden work in June. We get our family and friends to help as the beautiful moments of gardening are meant to be shared.
So let’s see in detail how to take care of the plants in the garden and on our balcony in June in order to plan the work required to enjoy a wonderful garden.
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1. Plant summer vegetables in the vegetable garden
In the middle of June, it is the right time for late planting of our vegetable garden, as as the summer progresses, planting becomes more difficult due to high temperatures. We can start late tomato crop, pepper crop, eggplant crop, cucumber crop, squash crop, corn crop, melon crop, watermelon crop, bean crop and okra crop.
This month, we can also try the sweet potato crop that is planted in early summer and takes 4-5 months to harvest. The sweet potato is a different kind of potato, very tasty and with great nutritional value.
9 secrets to planting and growing melon
We should be careful enough to plant the vegetables at the proper planting distances, avoiding dense plantings that create conditions of poor ventilation and disease development.
You can see more information and advice on creating a vegetable garden in the relevant article we have published, as well as in the corresponding video on growing vegetables.
2. We enjoy fresh seasonal vegetables and fruits
The time is coming for our first summer harvest as in June, we harvest many vegetables from our garden such as tomato, cherry tomatoes, onion, pepper, cucumber to make wonderful summer salads.
We also harvest for our cooking to use in our recipes, pumpkins, eggplants, peppers, potatoes and burdock root. A special place on our table, they will also have the first corns that we will boil and enjoy.
6 secrets to growing pumpkin
How about we also harvest delicious fruits to make wonderful fruit salads. We will start with the juicy strawberries, the first aromatic melons and the first sweet watermelons. From the fruit trees in our garden, we harvest several fruits such as apricots, peaches, nectarines and pears.
3. Collect and dry aromatic plants
In June, the collection of aromatic plants such as oregano, marjoram, diktamo, rosemary, lavender, sage and thyme begins, which we grow to add as a seasoning to our salads and food or to we make drink
The collection of leaves, stems and flowers of aromatic plants must be done on sunny days as soon as the flowers begin to open, as at this stage they have a rich content of essential oils.
How we dry aromatic plants and herbs
After harvesting them, we proceed to drying the aromatic plants. We tie the aromatics and herbs in bunches and hang them upside down in a shady place to dry. After a few days, after they have dried, we put them in airtight jars and store them in our cupboards.
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4. We begin the fight against the olive borer
In the middle of June, the protection against the dako begins, the most important entomological enemy of the olive which is a big headache for all the growers in the Greek area, both for the oil-making olive varieties and for the table varieties.
The ecological control of the olive borer requires both the careful monitoring of the evolution of the borer population, as well as the use of a combination of ecological management methods to limit the intensity of the infestation and the damage it does to the olive fruit.
The most basic methods of biological treatment of the borer are the mass trapping traps, the bait sprays with approved ecological preparations and the universal sprays of the leaf surface of the olive tree with kaolin.
Treatment of the olive pit
5. We take care of indoor plants
As the temperatures rise in June, the indoor plants we have in the home and office need special attention. Orchid, anthurium, kentia, zamiokulkas, and benjamin fig and so many other indoor plants need a cool environment and increased relative humidity.
So we make sure to open the doors of the house more often to ventilate and cool the space. We check the soil of the pot more often and water more often so that there is no problem with the plants and they remain healthy.
What care do indoor plants need (+video)
We clean the leaves of ornamental plants from dust with a wet cloth and spray the foliage of the plants with distilled water to create a cooler environment by increasing the relative humidity.
Finally, we carefully observe the foliage of indoor plants for the appearance of insects such as mealybugs, mealybugs and cotton bugs due to the increase in temperatures combined with poor ventilation conditions so that we can deal with it in time.
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6. We protect the plants from insects and diseases
At this time, in the month of June, the rise in temperature favors the appearance of infestation by several insects and the tetranych which do significant damage to both our vegetables and our ornamental plants.
In the vegetable garden, we must carefully examine the leaves, both on the upper surface and on the lower surface, in order to see attacks by the characteristic insects of the meligra (aphids) and the mealybug that attacks the cucumber, squash, melon and watermelon.
Also, we should be vigilant to fight the stink bugs that mainly attack tomatoes, peppers, beans and corn and degrade the quality of the fruits produced. In addition, it is necessary to deal with the tuta (Tuta sp.) in the tomato plants which creates holes in the tomato fruits.
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We protect our vegetables, from the tetranych and insects, using preventive sulfur around the root of the plants and on the leaves as well as organic preparations that we get from agricultural stores such as Thuringia bacillus, natural pyrethrin and potassium salts.
Alternatively, for the preventive protection of our vegetables, we can use homemade materials such as green soap, cayenne pepper and ground cinnamon and prepare our own plant protection recipes with natural materials as we have shown in the relevant video.
Ecological ways to protect plants with natural materials
7. We take care and protect the vine
We continue this month, in June, to take care of our vineyard and our beloved bed that gives us delicious grapes every year. This period requires a lot of attention and we must protect the vine cultivation from fungal diseases, and from entomological attacks so as to ensure a good production this year as well.
In particular, we take preventive protection measures for the grape downy mildew that affects the leaves and grapes of the vine. In particular, we spray with an ecological preparation of wet sulfur or we dust our vineyard with sulfur.
It is also necessary to combat the blight, the most important insect enemy that attacks grapes, in the summer. In order to deal with the blight ecologically, dusting or spraying with a biological formulation of Thuringia bacillus is required. Alternatively, we can spray the vine and the bed with summer pulp combined with natural pyrethrum.
Combating the eudemida in the vine
If there are any gardening tasks that you didn’t manage to do last month, you can consult the May garden tasks article.
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