June Gardening Check List

Keep your gardens watered – especially those plants you added in April and May! We’re heading into the hottest, driest time for most regions. Consider installing soaker hoses or drip-irrigation lines if hand-watering is getting to be too much.
Trim evergreen hedges (boxwood, yew, arborvitae, juniper, privet, hemlock, etc.) Spruce, fir and pines also can be pruned back, if needed, now that most of the new growth has occurred. Remove only the new growth of these… not older wood or you’ll risk killing branches.
Pull or spot-spray those weeds. Early in the month, make a second application of weed preventer to the shrub and flower beds to stop later-germinating annual weeds, especially if it’s been cool and rainy. The second application should be timed 9 to 12 weeks after the first one.
Scout for pest problems and treat as needed. Among the trouble you might run into this time of year are bagworms on evergreens and shade trees, borers on birch and dogwood, woolly adelgids on hemlock, lacebugs on azalea and pieris, spider mites on spruce, hemlocks and juniper, and scale on euonymus. Avoid spraying when temperatures are more than 85 degrees.
Harvest spring-planted vegetables. Don’t leave any space bare from pulled plants, though. Replant immediately with summer crops of beans, carrots, corn, peppers, beets, pumpkins, potatoes or cucumbers.