Plants in Flower

Fertilizing

• Fertilize or side-dress your vegetables as needed

Planting

• Start brussel sprouts and collards for transplanting into the garden in mid-July
• Plant beans, lima beans, southern peas, pepper, sweet potato, pumpkin, and tomato 

Pruning

• Prune narrow leaf evergreens like juniper and arborvitae
• Prune the bigleaf or florist hydrangea when the flowers fade
• Trim hedges as needed
• Remove water sprouts or suckers on any fruit trees, crape myrtles, etc.
• Dead-head faded flowers of phlox, shasta daisy, and daylily to promote a second flowering
• Trim foliage of your spring flowering bulbs (once they turn yellow/brown and wilt)
• Prune out dieback on hybrid rhododendron, azalea, mountain laurel, and blueberry
• Pinch chrysanthemums 1-2 inches every month to encourage branching – last pinch around July 4th

 Spraying

• Monitor landscape plants for pests: arborvitae (bagworm), boxwood (leaf miner), crape myrtle (aphids), hemlock (spider mites), and pyracantha (lace bugs).
• Spray for Japanese beetles as needed
• Monitor vegetables for pests: cucumber (cucumber beetle), squash (squash borers and aphids), tomato and eggplant (flea beetle), broccoli, cabbage and cauliflower (worms).
• Keep spraying your tree fruits and bunch grapes with a pest control program.
• Check your asparagus plants for the asparagus beetle and spray with the recommended insecticide if beetles are observed
• Continue with rose spray program
• Watch for dark brown spots on your tomato leaves. If observed, spray with a fungicide for early blight.
• Spray herbicides on the following woody weeds: poison ivy, honeysuckle, and kudzu.

 Lawn Care

• Start zoysia this month or continue fertilizing established zoysia lawn this month
• Do NOT fertilize tall fescue and bluegrass now

 Propagation

• Late June is the ideal time to take semi-hardwood cuttings
• Azaleas, cotoneaster, camellia, holly, pieris, red-tip photinia and rhododendron cuttings should be taken in June or July

 Specific Chores

• Build a cold frame for rooting your shrub cuttings
• Renovate your strawberry bed after the berry harvest is completed
• Water your favorite plants during periods of dry weather
• Water early in the morning
• Watering late in the day encourages plant disease growth BUT if you need to water, WATER! Just try not to get the leaves wet!
• Vegetable gardens need 1 inch of water per week
• Harvest crops on a regular basis to keep plants producing