Jobs to Do in Your Garden This June

Long evenings, blooming borders and (hopefully) some sunshine – we love June in the garden! Everything’s growing like mad and there’s colour popping up all over the place. While it’s important to make time to sit and appreciate your hard work, there are still a few jobs to keep your garden looking tip-top. Fortunately, many of them don’t involve much hard graft. Here’s our guide.

Deadhead, deadhead, deadhead!

If you do nothing else this month, a little deadheading every couple of days will be your best time investment. It’s all down to biology... A plant’s flowers are designed to attract pollinators and then produce seeds or fruit. Once the flowering is over, the plant puts its energy into seed production—not more blooms.

By removing spent flowers before they go to seed, you encourage the plant to produce more flowers. This won’t harm the plant, if it’s well-fed and watered, and it helps keep everything looking vibrant.

Anything flowering now—roses, sweet peas, delphiniums, nasturtiums—will benefit. Use sharp, clean secateurs like these Kent & Stowe Traditional Bypass Secateurs and cut each bloom down to the next stem joint to avoid stubby ends. Compost your cuttings and enjoy the ongoing display!

Watering: aim at the roots

We may not get Mediterranean heat, but Hampshire can still warm up. Pots, hanging baskets and anything newly planted are especially prone to drying out. Water deeply and less frequently to encourage strong, deep root systems. A quick daily sprinkle won’t help much - it evaporates fast and rarely reaches the roots.

The best times to water are early morning or late evening, when it’s cooler. Mulching also helps lock in moisture and suppress weeds. If you're looking to upgrade your setup, browse our range of watering and irrigation solutions.

Talking of weeds…

They’ll be having a field day if you let them. The trick is to catch them before they grow large root systems or set seed. As with deadheading, a little regular effort goes a long way.

Run a hoe over bare soil on dry days to dislodge unwanted growth it’s much easier than digging out established roots later! To prevent weeds from taking hold in the first place, try mulching with something like Landscape Bark. It looks great, retains moisture, and blocks light to weed seedlings.

For all your weeding and maintenance needs, explore our full range of garden tools and equipment.

A green and pleasant lawn

If we hit a warm, dry spell, your lawn may not need mowing as frequently. Like any plant, grass slows down without water. Raise your mower blades slightly to help the grass retain moisture, and mow occasionally to keep things tidy.

If your lawn starts to brown, don’t panic—it usually bounces back quickly after rain. You can help it along by using saved ‘grey’ water (like cooled washing-up water). Normally, you wouldn’t feed a dry plant, but some specialist summer lawn feeds are designed to work with a little extra watering.

The kindest cut

June is a perfect time to take softwood cuttings, which is ideal for creating new plants for free! These are taken from the softer, newer growth of plants like lavender, fuchsia, or penstemons.

Select a non-flowering shoot and, using a sharp blade, cut just above a node so your cutting is 5–10cm long. Pop it into moist compost, about halfway down, and place it in a bright spot out of direct sun. You can cover the pot with a plastic bag to retain moisture but keep an eye out for mildew. With patience, you’ll see either new roots or growth—and by late summer, you’ll have a batch of new plants to pot up!

A garden for all to enjoy

June gardening should be a relaxing mix of pottering and pruning, with plenty of time to enjoy the results. Don’t forget to keep your bird baths and insect dishes topped up, especially during dry spells. Leaving a few wild corners untouched helps support local bees, butterflies and other beneficial creatures.

Why not explore our wildlife range or stock up on birdcare essentials to encourage even more garden visitors?

Happy gardening from all of us at Hambrooks Garden Centre!