June 2023 — Monty Don

Grass Cutting

By June a million gardens are regularly humming – and at times unpleasantly roaring – with the sound of motor- mowers keeping the grass trim and under control. But at Longmeadow we restrict this to paths and try and let as much grass as possible grow long and planted up with spring bulbs and wildflowers. This looks beautiful and is so much better for insects and all forms of wildlife than a neatly mown lawn. 

However it is important to time the cutting of this long grass to maximise the performance of the bulbs next spring and of the grasses themselves. Nothing should be cut at all until after the longest day on June 21st. This gives the foliage of the bulbs time to die back and feed next year’s bulb and subsequent flowering. The grass can then be cut if it as been hot and dry although sometimes I leave this as late as mid August. 

Whenever you make this first cut of the long grass, you must collect it all up and take it to the compost heap to stop it adding nutrition to the ground which would encourage lusher, coarser grasses at the expense of the flowers. 

Sow Biennials 

Biennials, such as Wallflowers, Honesty, Foxgloves, Forget-me-nots and Aquilegias differ from annuals, which grow, flower and set seed all in one growing season,  in that they grow fast from seed and develop strong roots and foliage in one season and then flower in the next. For most this means that they germinate and grow without flowering in summer and autumn, remaining dormant over winter, then have another burst of growth before flowering in Spring and early summer. 

Sow them now in a seed tray, pots or in rows in the vegetable plot and prick them out into pots or thin so that each plant can develop healthy roots and foliage before planting them out where you want them to grow in autumn.

Plant Out Tender Annuals

All through April and May we have been growing on, nurturing protecting and increasingly hardening off tender plants such as Cannas, dahlias and salvias as well as tender annuals like tithonias, cosmos and Zinnias, all of which play such an important role in the late summer borders. By June we can plant them out with confidence that they will not only be free from any risk of frost but also that the nights will be warm enough for them to grow strongly and establish as good sized plants ready for their flowering display.