What to plant & sow in your vegetable and flower gardens in June — the Southern Hemisphere winter.
Today — the day we are writing this — is the shortest day.
In this article, we share a list of edibles you can plant this month, and expert tips from nursery owner, Rachel Gray.
Rachel, of Gray Floral Nursery & Garden Centre in Blenheim, takes us through what she’s planting and sowing in the nursery right now (so you can too).
June Planting: Edible Garden
Roots —
- Beetroot
Tubers —
- Potatoes
Brasiccas —
- Asparagus
- Broccoli / broccolini
- Brussel sprouts
- Cabbages
- Cauliflower
- Kale
- Pak choi / bok choi
Herbs —
- Coriander
- Parsley
Salad greens —
- Lettuces
- Mizuna
- Rocket
- Silverbeet
- Spinach
Fruit —
- Citrus
- Apples
- Pears
- Plums
- Peaches
- Nectarines
- Strawberries
Other —
- Peas
- Garlic
- Jerusalem artichoke
- Onions
- Shallots
- Spring onions
- Celery
- Broad beans
— You can also plant: bare root roses, daphne, camellias, ranunculus, calendula, alyssum, lupin & green crops.
Rachel Gray planting out ranunculus seedlings
June Gardening with Gray Floral
— by Rachel Gray, Gray Floral Nursery & Garden Centre
What I’m planting now:
Bare root roses & ranunculus seedlings.
I love planting roses as bare roots – I think it gives them the best start to life.
I always soak my bare root roses (and any seedlings) in a weak seaweed or fish fertiliser. I find the easiest way to do this is in a wheelbarrow.
The most important step in planting out seedlings at this time of year is hardening off – when seeds are started in the glass house or on a window sill they need time to acclimatise even if they’re a hardy seedling. We harden off all our seedlings in the nursery for a week before they are put on the shop floor, and we really believe this makes all the difference for our gardeners.
What we’re sowing now:
In terms of sowing – we sow poppies (Icelandic, Breadseed & Amazing Grey), foxgloves, delphiniums, trachelium, Matricaria, stock and snapdragons throughout the early winter.
The most common question I get around poppies is how to get them to germinate – they can be tricky. They’re a light lover so I am always sure to surface sow, and only cover with a light dust of vermiculite. Use the best quality seed raising mix you can get your hands on!
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Gray Floral is a floral nursery and garden centre that takes pride in growing vegetable, bedding and cut flower seedlings on site from seed. Visit their Blenheim store or shop online.
