Organic Gardening in June
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June brought the first real payoff from spring planting — strawberries, rhubarb, and mint from the perennials, alongside a second attempt at some stubborn tropical seeds, and an ongoing slug battle.
Organic gardening in June is a busy month, with just a hint of summer on the way. After the spring planting season, things slowed down a little due to cold, wet weather. By June, the garden was finally reaping the benefits of its perennial plants, with a good harvest of those goodies coming in.
Table of Contents
Re-Planting Tropical Vegetables
June still meant salvaging a few earlier failures. A cold, long spring meant most of the tropical plants sown earlier didn’t survive, so June became the last real attempt at sowing those seeds again — warmer temperatures meant they could go straight into the greenhouse this time, removing the added stress of controlling the temperature. Warmer ground, too, meant a better chance for these seeds to sprout and thrive.
Heirloom bitter melon, snake gourd, and okra seeds were soaked for a few hours, then planted into a small raised bed placed inside the greenhouse. With both inside and outside temperatures warmer now, these seeds were expected to sprout sooner than they would have in April, hopefully without much extra effort.
June Garden Harvest
The June garden saw real success from perennials like rhubarb, mint, and strawberries. Strawberries were at their peak, though the harvest ran about two weeks later than the previous June, thanks to the delayed warm spring. Lettuce was being harvested regularly from the greenhouse, and aubergines and bell peppers were thriving.
About a week before, a couple of carrots were pulled to check on progress, but they hadn’t reached the right size yet — a few more would be harvested to give the rest room to double in size. Other seasonal vegetables planted the previous autumn were ready too, including spinach, Swiss chard, and kohlrabi.
How the June Garden Came Together
Supplies List
- Bitter melon, snake gourd, okra (heirloom)
- Strawberries, rhubarb, mint
- Lettuce, aubergines, bell peppers
- Carrots, spinach, Swiss chard, kohlrabi
- Chives, rocket, sage, thyme, rosemary
- Dill, coriander
Instructions
A Thriving Herb Garden:
Raised beds are used mainly for the herb garden. Chives, rocket salad, sage, thyme, and rosemary, all planted the previous summer, survived the long cold winter and were being harvested regularly. Dill went in this round too. Cilantro was the one herb still missing — planted earlier without success, but with time still left in June, coriander went in for another attempt. Beyond their scent, herbs in flower are excellent at attracting bees and a wide range of beneficial insects into the garden.
Regular Harvesting:
Chives, rocket, and mint leaves were being harvested regularly, with mint chutneys and teas becoming a regular part of meals. Mint grows in real abundance here, especially since it was planted on the ground near the stream.
Harvesting, Composting, and Replanting:
After harvesting overgrown spinach and kohlrabi, empty patches opened up for the next cycle of vegetables. Planning well ahead means a thriving garden through summer and into autumn, and removing and composting plants that reached the end of their life cycle is part of the regular June routine.
More on This Growing Season
More on this season is covered in the spring planting post, and the greenhouse mentioned throughout is covered in a separate post on why it was built.
A Few Lessons from June
Soak heirloom seeds before a second attempt: soaking bitter melon, snake gourd, and okra seeds for a few hours before replanting gave them a better shot at sprouting.
Let herbs flower for the bees: beyond scent, flowering herbs attract bees and other beneficial insects into the garden.
Hand-pick slugs and snails: the main defense against slugs eating through pumpkin, cucumber, and other saplings has simply been picking them off by hand.
The Ongoing Battle with Slugs and Snails
Organic gardening is an ongoing process, changing with every season and year. Slugs and snails remain the main predators here, having eaten through new pumpkin, cucumber, and other saplings — a real loss in both cost and time, especially with organic saplings from the garden center running expensive in Switzerland. Wet, rainy weather gives slugs and snails a real field day, and hand-picking is the only defense being used at the moment. They keep turning up regardless, likely helped along by a neighbor who doesn’t garden, leaving these saplings as easy pickings.
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2 Responses
I am Theja Ramanayake. From Sri Lanka.. I have done Agriculture Degree and MBA in University Peradeniya. I have 10 year experience vegetable home garden.. I think your articles on Web page is ecalellent
Thanks for the feedback. This will motivate me to bring more posts.