Tips for June

Fruit

• Tie new canes of Raspberries and Blackberries onto wires, keep them separate from last years growth
• Pick Rhubarb regularly and do not allow it to form flower spikes
• Remove damaged branches from Damsons and Plums
• Spread nets over soft fruit bushes
• Check fruit cages for tears or damage
• Put straw under Strawberries to protect from slugs

Keep on dead heading

To keep your plants flowering you need to keep dead heading. This stops the plant producing seed, which is what it wants to do, so it keeps on flowering!

Softwood cuttings

• Now is the time to take softwood cuttings of Hebe and Lavender.
• Take two to three inch long softwood cuttings.  
• Remove the lower leaves and cut the base just below a leaf joint or node.  
• Remove the tip of the shoot.  
• Dip in hormone rooting powder available from Growing Concerns.
• Place the cuttings around the edge of a pot of gritting compost.  
• Water and cover with clear polythene.  
• The cuttings should root in four to six weeks.