Overview

• June offers the perfect opportunity to deadhead spent flowers and encourage repeat blooms, according to Jane Fairlie of Doff Portland.
• The Chelsea Chop—reducing herbaceous perennials by a third—stimulates a second flush of flowers when performed in early June.
• Warm soil in June is ideal for direct sowing of vegetables such as carrots, beans and broccoli without the need for pots.
• Essential maintenance now includes weekly mowing at higher blade settings, edge trimming and early-morning or late-evening watering to minimise evaporation.
• After ten years at the helm, Dame Mary Berry has passed National Garden Scheme presidency to Alan Titchmarsh and B&Q will stock Catherine’s Rose in September with proceeds supporting The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.