June 20^th marks the official flag of summer! For gardeners in Zones 9-10, you’ve been feeling the heat for a few weeks now, and gardens are in full swing.

By this point in the year, you’ve likely planted most of your garden, but there are still plenty of things to do in June gardening to keep your yard and garden looking top-notch. Succession planting, maintenance tasks, harvests, and planning are all on the docket this month.

Not sure exactly what you should be doing in the garden in June? Check out our June Gardening Checklist Zones 9-10 for tips that will keep your garden lush, productive, and full of life as we make way for summer.

Gardening Planning in Zones 9 & 10

Keep your garden journal handy as you observe, assess, and plan your garden throughout the month of June for continued success and prepping for fall and next year’s gardens too.

• Those of you in Zones 9-10 are really feeling the heat, so plan to get out in the garden early and get your garden chores done before the sun becomes too intense and humidity takes hold.
• Walk around the garden with your garden journal and note the pests you see in the garden.
• Jot down what varieties of plants have been successful so far and which types didn’t perform. Were certain pests or sunlight amounts a problem?  Write down your thoughts in your garden journal so that you will remember these tidbits next year.
• Consider what companion plants will attract good bugs to your garden to combat the pests you see in your garden.
• Jot down the rainfall you have been seeing this month and consider whether investing in a drip irrigation system would be helpful.
• It’s not too early to start thinking about fall garden vegetables that you are considering growing from seed. Start perusing seed catalogs for varieties that you are thinking of producing.
• If berry bushes are forming fruits, make sure you have netting ready to set on bushes to protect them from eager birds.
• What crops are you planting this season? As you dream of your future harvests, think about what you will be growing and do some research on recipes, canning procedures, supplies, and jot down ideas on what you will do with your fruits and vegetables once picking time arrives.
• Walk around public areas or neighbor’s gardens and get some ideas on some plants that draw your attention. Take photos and add them to your garden journal so that you can identify them at your local garden center or on a plant identification app. Then seek them out as you venture out shopping at your local nursery for fall planting trees, shrubs, and perennials or subsequent season additions.

June Garden Prep & Maintenance

Gardens are in a surge of growth this month for gardeners in Zones 9-10. Here are some June gardening tasks to keep your gardens in tip-top shape as we zoom into the heat of summer.

Garden Maintenance in Zones 9-10

• If you still have any winter garden vegetables taking up residence in your garden, remove them this month and add them to your compost heap.
• Clean up plant debris around your plants to avoid disease and pests.
• Plant cover crops in unoccupied garden beds to improve your soil.

Summer Garden Weeding

Weeds are popping up everywhere throughout the month of June, and they can really invade your garden space, stealing essential nutrients, water, and valuable garden real estate from your prized plantings. It’s crucial to eliminate them promptly.

• Walk your landscape and pluck weeds out entirely from the root. They are easier to pull when they are young.
• Weed regularly so that weeds do not have a chance to reseed themselves, leading to more significant problems.
• Use organic weed control methods to kill weeds, like pouring boiling water on weeds or spraying weeds with a mixture of white vinegar and dish soap.
• Add mulch to your garden or plant ground cover anywhere you see bare soil.
• After weeding, if you haven’t done so already, add a couple of inches of organic mulch to your garden beds to keep weeds from propagating further.

Fertilizing the Organic Garden

Lots of plants need an additional boost this time of year. It’s a great time to fertilize your vegetable garden, perennial gardens, and container plants.

• Add compost and fertilize around fruit trees to give them a boost.
• Reapply fertilizer to flowering annuals, hanging baskets, container gardens, and vegetables.
• Always fertilize after you have weeded so that you are not feeding the weeds!

Watering the Summer Garden

Things are heating up, and summer is rolling in by the middle of June, so be sure that you are keeping up with the watering chores.  As always, if you live in an area where there are water usage restrictions, always abide by these guidelines.

• Container plants and hanging baskets need daily watering now that they have established themselves and the temperatures have risen.
• Water perennial plants, vegetable gardens, and shrubs deeply and frequently.
• Ensure that your drip irrigation system is set up correctly and is in good working order.

Pruning the June Garden & Landscape

• It’s not too late to prune back spring-flowering shrubs. They will set their buds for next year’s blooms by midsummer, so get it done in early June if you haven’t done so already.
• Prune the suckers off your tomato plants. Pruning tomato plants encourages them to push more energy into the plant’s central stalk and fruiting.
• Pinch off spent blooms on annuals and perennials.
• You can do a hard prune of annuals as well, cutting them back by 1/3 to support bushier and more robust plants.
• Cut fall-blooming shrubs in half so that they won’t become too leggy. Cutting them back will encourage bushier and healthier plants. Mums, asters, and monarda are good plants to prune back now.
• It’s prime time to thin fruit trees, so that set fruits are a minimum of six inches apart. Don’t be surprised if fruit trees have done some of this naturally this month.
• Prune back any overgrown shrubs.
• It’s also an excellent time to prune back any annual plants to keep them in check. This will keep them from becoming leggy and force them to branch out into fuller plants.
• By now, you can cut back the withered foliage of spring-flowering bulbs. If they need to be divided, you can do so now.

Dump Standing Water

It’s well worth repeating that mosquitoes can reproduce like wildfire in even the tiniest bit of standing water.  Patrol your yard and garden and dump out standing water from catch basins under containers, low spots in the garden where water pools, stagnant birdbaths, and any other places where water collects.

Outdoor Planting in Zones 9-10

Continue sowing seeds directly outdoors and practice succession planting of warm-season crops. As always, please consult your local extension office for the best times to plant in your area.

Continue planting these fruits and veggies:

• Cucumbers
• Okra
• Spinach (Warm-Season)
• Lettuce (Warm-Season)

• Squash
• Pumpkins
• Corn
• Melons

Harvesting in Zones 9-10

More and more crops are becoming available to harvest, especially if you have been succession planting. Remember to pick produce often so that the plants will keep producing for an extended period of time.

Here are some of the mouthwatering veggies that you can bring from harvest to table throughout the month of June:

• Asparagus
• Beans
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Carrots

• Cauliflower
• Corn
• Cucumber
• Peppers
• Tomatoes

Share The Garden Love