Herbs to plant
June is still an excellent month for basil, and planting a fresh succession now ensures you have young, productive plants carrying you through August when earlier plantings may be getting woody. Genovese basil planted in June will be harvest-ready in about 3 weeks and producing at its peak through October.
The key task for basil in June is aggressive flower-bud pinching. The moment you see a flower stalk forming at the growing tips, pinch it off. Once basil flowers and sets seed, the plant puts its energy into reproduction rather than leaf production, and the harvest drops off sharply. Pinching every week through June, July, and August keeps plants productive and the leaves large and flavorful.
Cool-season herbs like cilantro are essentially done for the season. Cilantro bolts rapidly once temperatures stay above 85 degrees, which in Atlanta means most of June, July, and August. Let bolted cilantro plants flower and set seed if you want to collect coriander seeds. Those seeds are useful in cooking and can be saved for fall planting.
All Mediterranean herbs planted earlier in the season — rosemary, thyme, oregano — are actively growing and producing through June. Harvest them freely. Regular harvesting actually encourages bushier, more productive growth in these plants.
Flowers to plant
Coneflower and black-eyed Susan are Atlanta natives that start blooming in June and continue through August, making them the backbone of the Atlanta summer pollinator garden. Both are heat-tolerant, drought-tolerant, and beloved by bees, butterflies, and goldfinches.
Black-eyed Susan (Rudbeckia) is one of the most carefree perennials you can grow. Indian Summer and Goldstorm varieties are compact enough for container growing. Once established, black-eyed Susan self-seeds and returns reliably each year. Deadhead spent flowers to extend the bloom season.
Zinnias and marigolds planted in April and May are in full bloom in June. Deadhead zinnias every week by removing spent flowers at the point where the stem meets the next set of leaves. This keeps the plant producing new buds rather than going to seed, and the bloom season can extend well into October with consistent deadheading.
Late-June is still a viable planting window for cosmos and sunflowers. Cosmos grows quickly (blooming in 50 to 60 days from seed) and tolerates poor soil remarkably well. Sensation Mix and Cupcake Mix are both beautiful container varieties. A June sowing will be blooming in August.
Vegetables to plant
June has a shorter window for new plantings than May, but there's still meaningful ground to cover. The key is matching plant needs to the long, hot growing season that stretches from June through October.
Tomatoes planted in April are setting fruit in June, and this is an exciting milestone. Keep them watered consistently — inconsistent watering causes blossom end rot and cracking, both of which are common problems in Atlanta's hot, dry June stretches. Calcium deficiency (often induced by irregular watering) is the main cause of blossom end rot. Water deeply and regularly rather than a little every day.
A second planting of bush beans in early June gives you a harvest in late July and early August. Bush beans produce prolifically for 2 to 3 weeks then taper off, so staggered plantings are worthwhile. Contender and Blue Lake 274 are the most reliable Atlanta varieties.
Harvest lettuce that hasn't bolted yet. Once you see the center stalk elongating and producing small feathery leaves, the plant is bolting and the harvest window is closing. Remove bolted plants to make room for summer vegetables. Sweet potato slips can go into large containers (The Two by Four at 18" depth is ideal) in June. Sweet potatoes are vining plants that cascade beautifully over the sides of large planters. Beauregard and Centennial are two varieties suited to shorter-season container growing.
Fruits in season
June-bearing strawberries are at their peak production this month. Chandler and Camarosa berries are ripening daily, and the harvest can be substantial from even a single Two by Two planter well-planted with crowns. Check plants daily and pick ripe berries promptly — overripe berries attract pests and can spread mold to neighboring fruit.
Blueberries planted in April are beginning to ripen in June if you're growing an early variety like O'Neal. The blue color in the berry is not the final ripeness indicator — wait until the berry is fully blue and pulls off the stem with almost no resistance. Blueberries that require a tug aren't quite ready.
Care tasks this month
Watering is the central June task, and it demands daily attention. Atlanta temperatures in June regularly reach 90 degrees, and containers in full sun can dry out completely in a single day. Water early in the morning so the foliage dries before evening, which reduces fungal disease pressure. Evening watering on leaves that stay wet overnight is the single biggest cause of fungal problems on tomatoes and squash.
Mulching the soil surface of your containers makes a significant difference in moisture retention. An inch of wood chips, straw, or shredded leaves on top of the potting mix can reduce the watering frequency by 30 to 40 percent. It also keeps the soil temperature lower, which is especially important for the roots of heat-stressed plants.
Check tomatoes for signs of disease. Early blight appears as yellow leaves with brown spots starting at the bottom of the plant and working upward. Remove affected leaves as soon as you see them. A preventive spray of diluted neem oil (1 tablespoon per gallon of water with a small amount of dish soap as an emulsifier) applied in the evening helps control both fungal disease and soft-bodied insect pests.
What to harvest
Harvest remaining spring crops — lettuce, spinach, peas, parsley, cilantro — before heat shuts them down. Any lettuce that hasn't bolted yet is still producing leaves worth harvesting.
Basil is actively producing and ready for its first major harvest. Harvest by cutting stems just above a pair of leaves, never removing more than a third of the plant at once. The cut stem will branch into two new shoots, doubling the number of productive growing tips. A well-managed basil plant can produce 2 to 3 pounds of leaves through the season.
June-bearing strawberries are at peak harvest. If you have more berries than you can eat fresh, freeze them whole on a baking sheet then transfer to bags. Frozen strawberries are excellent in smoothies, sauces, and baked goods through the rest of the year.
