June gardening jobs

Denitsa sent us this pic of our polytunnel in April

The unseasonally warm weather has cooled down. The volunteers are visiting on separate days to follow social distancing rules. Here is a selection of jobs for June.

• Meadow - every three weeks, cut with a bill hook to remove tallest flowers and grass stalks at about 15cm.
• Red veined sorrel in the small forest garden - remove all flower stems and heads to stop self-seeding. It becomes invasive otherwise. 
• Marigolds - dead head and trim to keep bushy.
• Globe artichokes - harvest, generally remove king globe at top of central stems first. 
• Strawberries - prune out runners except for the healthiest ones on each of the healthiest plants.
• Blackcurrants, gooseberries and red/white currants - water, mulch and cover with netting.
• Potatoes - earth up with mulch e.g. woodchips, mature compost, dried grass clippings, etc. Feed fortnightly (with comfrey tea diluted to a very weak tea colour).
• Brussels sprouts - transplant
• Courgettes - plant out under bottle cloches to stop slugs eating them. Remove cloche after a week or two or when plants get too big.
• French Beans - plant out seedlings sown in pots indoors and cover with a bottle cloche. Deer and slugs like them. 
• Parsnip - thin seedlings to 15cm apart.
• Peas/mangetout - harvest early types started off under cloches.
• Runner beans - sow seed outside. Plant out seedlings sown in pots indoors and put under bottle cloches until too large for them. 
• Squash/pumpkins - plant out making sure they are covered with bottle cloches or similar that are well dug into the soil as slugs love them.#
• Swede - thin seedlings in stages to 25cm apart
• Tomatoes - plant out staking securely and tying up carefully and not too tight to allow for growth. 
• Cucumber (ridge) - plant out  making sure they are covered with bottle cloches or similar that are well dug into the soil as slugs love them.
• Leek - transplant spring sown seedlings to final position, look up how to do this.
• Sweet Pepper - plant out in polytunnel only, they won’t ripen outside.
• Carrot (early) - harvest/thin out by removing the largest carrots carefully to leave good spacing for the smaller ones.
• Basil - plant out in polytunnel and outside in sunny site.
• Peas/mangetout - harvest early types sown outdoors.
• Lettuce - begin to harvest.
• Radish - sow single seeds 2-3cm apart in 1-2cm deep trough and cover. Leave 10-15cm between rows. The larger varieties, follow what is on the pack but sow singly rather than sprinkling. Sow one row and repeat regularly.
• Kale (curly) - transplant to final position and stake securely.
• Turnips - begin to harvest.