It wasnt long ago that the back garden held an important role in feeding the family, providing fruit and vegetables for the dinner table. This practise is making a comeback and there are some basic steps to help you keep your garden in great condition.
The control of disease and pests along with crop rotation and green composting can help transform your garden into a bountiful supply of fresh produce.
These days there are more man - made products available to help with pest protection and disease control, but producing great results still has some fundamental basics.
First steps
It is important to keep your garden weed free, as weeds use up valuable nutrients, which could be used by your plants. The same applies for weak or sickly plants; remove these from the vegetable garden. Unproductive fruit trees have the same effect on an orchard and need to be removed as well.
Check your garden over regularly and look out for insects and diseases, so you can treat them before your plants become badly affected.
June is officially the start of winter and tidying the garden at this time of year can be difficult. We recommend you do little bits and pieces when the weather allows. Consistent effort over the winter months will benefit your garden in the coming spring.
Home grown
Its a great time to plant spinach, cabbages, cauliflower and broccoli, so go ahead and get planting.
Check your citrus trees and remove fruit from those branches that are straining under the weight.
Shorten fruit tree branches that are bending under the weight of fruit, rather than risk losing a productive branch.
Prepare your potato bed now, as potato seed will be available at your Mitre10 store soon.
Garlic requires little attention once the bulb has been planted and is a six - month crop.
Written by Builder
The green garden
June Checklist