June 2024

June 2024

Dear Home Food Growers,

June has arrived, hopefully bringing more sunshine and warmth for summer. This year, we are experiencing a wetter season with less sunlight. If these conditions continue, this may increase the slug problems further and we now have a new term for that “uitplantangst” - transplanting anxiety with our new seedlings disappearing over night. Hopefully the coming period with no rain will improve the conditions.

 

Despite this challenging spring, our gardens are still thriving and full of abundance. To make sure we can still enjoy gardening and our harvests, this month's newsletter is filled with advice to help you navigate the wet and cool conditions, ensuring your garden remains productive and vibrant.

1. What to Sow

  • In general, you can direct sow on open ground as of now; however if you have slug problem, we advise you to continue sowing indoors to help seedlings establish successfully

  • Herbs: You can continue (re-)sowing parsley, dill, basil, if you have not done so. They thrive in the warmer weather and provide a continuous harvest.

  • Still a perfect time to sow summer beans, both tall/runner and shorter/dwarf varieties

  • You still have time to sow cucumber and courgette for outdoor growing, these establish fast, and recommend to do it asap to enjoy during summer

  • In case you missed the potato period, it is still great time to grow sweet potatoes. I purchase it as ‘slips’ from a local nursery, you can find the link here.

  • If you have larger spaces idle in your garden, last chances to sow large Brassicas for Autumn harvest such as Broccoli and Cauliflower (but be aware of summer pests such as caterpillars to protect with mesh!

  • If you haven’t already, you can still sow chard, celery, lettuce, multi-sown beetroot, carrots and spring onions

 

 

Summer & succession sowing for autumn

2. What NOT to Sow

  • Fennel, spinach and mustard greens tend to bolt quickly in the heat, making it less successful for early June sowing. Suggest to wait for mid-July / August for succession sow

  • Radishes can become woody and damaged with flea beetles in the warmer weather and also are prone to bolting. Suggest to wait for late August

  • Sowing peas may result in less produce due to heat - you can still sow until mid-June but preferably asap to enjoy these delicious treats

  • Leeks only overwintering variety - last chance 

3. Jobs to be Done

  • Pest Management: Continue diligently with slug checks, covering crops with mesh (e.g., brassicas for flea beetles and cabbage white butterflies, carrots for carrot root flies, and alliums for allium leaf miner). Aphids have not been a big problem with the rainy weather, however top broad beans if you have not already done so. Check the timings of pests on the plants you are growing

  • Succession Sowing: With harvests creating new gaps in the garden, June is crucial for succession sowing. You can find our succession sowing guide here.

  • Tomato Pruning: If you have indeterminate tomatoes, and in the "pruning" camp, remove the side shoots to focus the plant’s energy on larger fruit production. If you are OK with smaller but more fruits, you can also wait a couple more weeks to start pruning side shoots around mid- to late June

  • De-weeding: Regularly check and remove weeds to proactively manage

4. Harvests & Seasonal Chef tips

  • Strawberry: Enjoy them fresh or use them in desserts like strawberry shortcake or jam.

  • Peas: Snap and snow peas are ready for picking. They are delicious in salads, stir-fries, or simply steamed.

  • Broad beans: November sowings ready for picking. Broad beans can be used in stews, soups, or sautéed with garlic and herbs.

  • Fennel and Beetroot: Small bulbs and sizes are ready to harvest and enjoy for oven grills

  • Salad Leaves, Radish, Turnip and Herbs: Keep harvesting lettuce, turnips, radish, dill, parsley, and other salad greens. They make perfect bases for summer salads.

5. Events & recommended products 

  • Highlights from the 1st June Urban Gardening Workshop: On the 1st of June, we kicked off the month with our Urban Gardening Workshop, where participants learned about the benefits of growing their own vegetables, essential gardening techniques, and got hands-on experience with sowing and transplanting. Thank you to everyone who joined us!

  • Starting Greenhouse Gardening Workshop on 15th June: Our next workshop is planned for Greenhouse Gardening, to prepare for summer and key skills to grow vegetables

  • This month’s favorite products: Two of the base products to get you immediately started in your garden:

    • Garden beds: If you would like to elevate your garden, check out the garden beds from Ecotuintje

    • Pots: For economic and effective balcony / small space alternatives with air pruning Air-Pot - these are perfect to grow peppers or other greens. Check out the right size for the vegetable you’d like to grow.

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