Can you still sow tomatoes in June?

Sowing, no: there wouldn’t be enough season left to ripen the fruit in most regions. You can still plant out bought-in seedlings at the very start of the month. For direct sowings, June belongs to beans, winter carrots and chicory.

Why prick out leeks on a descending moon?

Tradition places everything to do with roots here: the sap said to sit low is meant to help the plant settle back in. In practice, what mostly helps the leek is trimming (roots and leaves shortened) and pricking out deep into soil kept cool.

When to harvest for better keeping?

Tradition picks fruit and leaves in the ascending moon, for freshness, and lifts the keeping roots in the descending moon, for storage. In June, the essentials are eaten quickly anyway: strawberries and peas never see a cellar.

In the garden · June

Gardening by the moon in June June

In June the kitchen garden produces and asks for follow-through. Lunar tradition keeps alternating: in the ascending moon, batch sowings (beans, winter carrots, beetroot, chicory) and harvests of strawberries, cherries and peas; in the descending moon, pricking out winter leeks and pinching out. The word of the month is no longer sow but tend: mulch, water, thin.

The essentials

To sow: beans in batches, winter carrots, beetroot, chicory, autumn broccoli
To prune, to plant: prick out winter leeks; pinch out tomatoes and melons
To harvest: strawberries, cherries, first courgettes, lettuces, peas, new garlic
Watchword: tend

The June kitchen garden by lunar tradition

In the ascending moon, tradition still sows, but differently: it’s the late-season sowings that are prepared now. Beans restarted every two weeks, so-called winter carrots, beetroot, chicory and autumn broccoli take their place in the rows freed up. And since the sap is said to hold the tops of the plants, it’s also the window for harvests: strawberries, cherries, peas, to eat quickly.

In the descending moon, the great job is called leeks: the plants sown in spring are pricked out into deep rows, roots and leaves trimmed, for next winter. It’s also the time for the training gestures: pinching out melons, removing the side-shoots from tomatoes if you grow them on a single stem, thinning carrots and beetroot.

Beans, leeks, strawberries: the crops of the month

The bean occupies the fruit days: it’s its seed and its pod we harvest, and June offers it soil at last warm, where it germinates without fuss. Winter carrots and beetroot hold the root days: sown now, they’ll have time to swell before the cold. Chicory and broccoli go by leaf days.

The winter leek belongs to leaf days too, in the descending moon for the pricking out: tradition reads a quieter establishment in it. As for strawberries, it advises picking them in the ascending moon, in the morning: the high sap is said to give them their best scent. Unverifiable; but the habit of picking in the cool, that you can taste.

The gesture of the month: mulch after the rain

Wait for a good rain or a generous watering, then cover the bare soil with five to seven centimeters of mulch: wilted grass clippings, straw, shredded leaves. The order matters: mulching a dry soil seals the thirst in. Well laid, the mulch keeps the moisture, calms the volunteer weeds and feeds the soil as it breaks down.

In a pot, two centimeters are enough and change a balcony’s summer: waterings spaced out by half, a compost that no longer crusts over. Just keep the collar of the plants clear, so the stem can breathe.

What the trials say

Trials on lunar gardening, including at agronomic research stations, have not brought to light any measurable, reproducible effect. The strength of June’s calendar is elsewhere: it turns upkeep into regular appointments, and a garden visited often is a garden that produces.

The lunations of June (exact dates)

Calculated from the ephemeris, in London time, and rechecked every night. Each lunation has its own detailed page.

Frequently asked questions

Can you still sow tomatoes in June?: Sowing, no: there wouldn’t be enough season left to ripen the fruit in most regions. You can still plant out bought-in seedlings at the very start of the month. For direct sowings, June belongs to beans, winter carrots and chicory.
Why prick out leeks on a descending moon?: Tradition places everything to do with roots here: the sap said to sit low is meant to help the plant settle back in. In practice, what mostly helps the leek is trimming (roots and leaves shortened) and pricking out deep into soil kept cool.
When to harvest for better keeping?: Tradition picks fruit and leaves in the ascending moon, for freshness, and lifts the keeping roots in the descending moon, for storage. In June, the essentials are eaten quickly anyway: strawberries and peas never see a cellar.