June: The First Big Harvest and the Beds in Full Swing

Auf einen Blick

The first big harvest is underway: strawberries, peas, kohlrabi and the first zucchini.
On Midsummer Day (24 June), the harvest of rhubarb and asparagus comes to an end.
Start thinking about autumn now: plant winter cabbages, sow more storage vegetables.
Keep Colorado potato beetles, aphids and cabbage whites in check early.

June is the month when the effort of the past weeks finally pays off for the first time. The beds stand thick and green, the air smells of warm soil, and the first strawberries you grew yourself land in the basket. And early summer is no time to sit back: keep sowing, planting and tending now, and you'll be harvesting well into autumn.

June covers roughly CW 23 to 26.

Plump green sugar snap pea pods hang ripe for picking on the plant — Peas taste best nibbled straight from the bed. · Photo: Forest and Kim Starr, CC BY 3.0

The first big harvest

Now the basket fills up. Strawberries are in full harvest, peas and sugar snaps are plump, and on top of that come kohlrabi, radishes, lettuces and the first zucchini.

As in high summer, one rule already holds: pick often and you'll pick for longer. Take the ripe fruit off the plants every few days and they'll keep pushing out new ones tirelessly. Best of all, pick in the morning, when the fruit is firm and full of flavour.

Midsummer Day: the last call for rhubarb and asparagus

The 24th of June, Midsummer Day, is an old gardener's rule with good reason behind it. Up to that date you harvest rhubarb and asparagus; after that, you leave both in peace.

Why you stop after the 24th of June

Rhubarb and asparagus need the rest of the summer to build up strength for next year. Harvest for longer and you weaken the plant, so the coming season turns out leaner. With rhubarb, the oxalic acid content rises as well. So from now on, let the stalks and foliage stand, and both will come back strong next spring.

Start thinking about autumn now

This is the secret of a garden that feeds you right into winter: wherever a bed comes free now, the next crop goes straight in. Winter cabbages want planting now, storage vegetables want sowing now.

Plant out winter cabbages: kale, Brussels sprouts and savoy cabbage as young plants into the bed.
Sow storage vegetables: storage carrots, beetroot and bush beans for the autumn harvest.
Get autumn salads going: sow chicory, fennel, sugarloaf and endive.

A good gardener harvests and sows on the same day. June belongs to both at once.

Colorado potato beetles and other summer guests

With the warmth come the pests. Rely on a close eye and gentle methods, and reaching for the chemicals usually stays unnecessary. The most conspicuous guest on the potatoes right now is the Colorado potato beetle.

A yellow-and-black striped Colorado potato beetle sits on a green potato leaf — The yellow-and-black striped beetle and its red-orange larvae strip the potato foliage bare. Picking them off by hand reliably does the trick.· Photo: Retro Lenses, CC BY 4.0

Walk the potato rows regularly and pick off the beetles, larvae and the orange egg clusters on the undersides of the leaves. Get on it early and you keep the infestation small. Protect cabbages from the cabbage white with a fine-mesh net, and blast aphids off with a hard jet of water.

Spotting late blight early

After muggy, wet June days, tomatoes and potatoes are at risk of late blight: brown patches on leaves and stems, often with a grey film on the underside, and later the fruit rots. Remove affected leaves at once and put them in the household waste, not on the compost. A rain cover over the tomatoes and dry foliage are the best prevention.

Watering, mulching, pinching out

Water demand climbs noticeably now. Water deeply and less often rather than a little every day, ideally early in the morning and at the root rather than over the foliage. Keep pinching out the tomatoes and tying them up, so they put their energy into the fruit.

Mulching saves water and work

A layer of grass clippings, straw or shredded greenery over the beds keeps the soil cool and moist, holds back the weeds and feeds the soil life along the way. On hot days especially, it saves you half the watering can.

Your June in short

HarvestPick strawberries, peas, kohlrabi and the first zucchini regularly.
Plant winter cabbagesSet out kale, Brussels sprouts and savoy cabbage as young plants.
Sow moreStorage carrots, beetroot and autumn salads for the late harvest.
PestsPick off potato beetles, net the cabbages, rinse off aphids.
Midsummer DayHarvest rhubarb and asparagus only until 24 June.
TendWater deeply in the morning, mulch, pinch out and tie up the tomatoes.

Häufige Fragen

Why should I stop harvesting rhubarb after 24 June?

Because from now on the plant stores up reserves for next year. Keep harvesting and you weaken it, and the oxalic acid in the stalks rises. Give it the summer off and it'll shoot up strongly again in spring.

Isn't it too early to sow for autumn back in June?

Quite the opposite: for many winter and storage crops, now is exactly the right time. Winter cabbages, storage carrots and autumn salads need the summer weeks to grow to size before the cold sets in.

Do I really have to pick off Colorado potato beetles by hand?

For the home garden it's the simplest and most effective method. Check the plants every few days and collect the beetles, larvae and orange egg clusters. That keeps the infestation small, without any sprays at all.

Your June at a glance

June is a give and take: you harvest properly for the first time while already sowing for autumn. Don't let the full beds stress you out. A quick round every few days, harvesting, watering and checking for pests, keeps everything in balance.

In Gartenkern you record what ripened when and what you resowed. Next June you'll know exactly when your Strawberry ‘Mieze Schindler’ first bore fruit and which bed came free after the peas. That way the garden year plans itself a little more easily with every season.

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