What to do this Month – June
Vegetables
- Continue sowing salad crops, such as beetroot, lettuce, pak choi and radish. Leafy salad crops may do better when sown in partially shady sites since hot dry weather can lead to bitter-tasting leaves.
- There’s still time to sow French and runner beans, peas, squash, sweetcorn, and outdoor cucumbers directly into prepared beds outside.
- French beans are best sown in rows, 45cm (18in) apart, at 15-22cm (6-9in) spacing.
- Sweetcorn works best sown in blocks with at least 45cm (18in) between holes, with two seeds per hole. Sow before mid-June. Any young plants raised under cover can now be planted out into the same block pattern.
- Courgettes, marrows and pumpkins can still be sown outdoors in early June in southern England and south Wales.
Fruit
- Transplant outdoor melons under cloches, pinching out the growing point.
- Move forced strawberries outdoors
- Continue training fan-trained trees.
- Pull off suckers appearing around the base of fruit trees.
- Summer prune red and white currants and gooseberries.
- Shorten newly planted raspberry canes once new shoots are produced.
These tips have been taken from the Royal Horticultural Society, Grow your own section. Full details can be seen at