The June Garden

Serviceberry with berries!

The June garden is pure abundance. It's too late to start most summer veggies now in my valley, and too early to start fall crops, so my focus is on garden care - watering, weeding, mulching - and on HARVEST.

Agenda:
1. June harvest
2. June planting

3. June tasks

4. Phenology journal

1. June harvest:

I'm harvesting spinach, lettuce, bok choy, peas, rhubarb, raspberries, parsley, and other herbs. I use the cut-and-come-again method of prolonging the harvest for greens, including bok choy. 

My bok choy might begin to bolt in the warmer days of June, so it's time to use it vigorously, or freeze it for later:

1. Keep it dry so it doesn't get mushy: Do not wash under water before freezing it. Instead, take a moist towel and gently wash it down removing the dirt on it, and then pat dry.
2. Cut it into pieces, both leaves and stems. (I left mine whole, but cut the stems from the leaves.)
3. Place in freezer bags, 2 cups of chopped bok choy into a quart sized bag. 
4. Suck the air out: Lay freezer bag down flat and use a straw to suck the air out of each bag. Seal the bag. Place bok choy in the freezer.

2. June planting:

The only summer food plants left to plant are beans and cucumbers (which I've already put in). This year my 2-year-old grandson helped me to plant and water two circles of beans.

Beans sprouted after 2 days!

Green beans (Phaseolus vulgaris): The green bean originated in Central and South America and there's evidence that it has been cultivated in Mexico and Peru for millennia. I usually try to plant beans in late May, but early June is not too late. I'm planting bean seeds I saved from my giant pole beans of two summers ago. Since green bean seeds are thick-coated, I'll give them an overnight soak in room temperature water to fully hydrate before planting.

Beans are a good crop to follow heavy feeders like tomatoes because they fix nitrogen in the soil. Catnip repels flea beetles, so catnip is a good companion plant for green beans, and marigolds will repel the Mexican bean beetle and suppress nematodes in the soil from attacking the roots. Bean plants repel the Colorado potato beetle and potato plants repel bean beetles so these two make a wonderful pair. Cucumber, eggplant, carrots, cabbage, Brussel sprouts, kale, strawberries, swiss chard, tomatoes, lettuce, peas, cauliflower, parsley, spinach, and radishes all grow well with green beans

Beets will stunt the growth of pole beans and pole beans stunt the growth of beets. Onions, garlic, and other members of the allium family stunt the growth of beans and don’t allow them to add nitrogen to the soil.

Bean tips:

• Plant pole beans about a hand-span apart, and give them a pole or string to twine up. 
• Avoid watering with cold water. Instead use warmer water from a watering can that has been sitting in the sun. 
• Keep slugs under control; there is nothing more delectable to slugs than tender young bean shoots.

3. June tasks:

I'm using the Second Breakfast Garden monthly guides this year to update my checklists, because they are in zone 8b.

1. Slug and snail proaction: Keep checking for these until the weather turns dry and plants get big enough to survive.
2. Aphids: Wherever I see aphids, I can look also for little golden clutches of ladybugs eggs. (cabbage moth eggs look similar but maybe not in  a cutch?)
3. Cool season crops (greens, peas, beets, kale, etc.) might start to wither or bolt. Pull some, and leave one to flower for the pollinators.
4. Remember to prune the suckers (branches that grow out of the joint of other branches) on my indeterminant tomatoes.
5. Mulch strawberries: It keeps the soil cool and moist, and keeps the berries off the dirt.
6. Mulch and weed: In permaculture, weeds are considered an essential part of the ecosystem. I have stopped pulling weeds in some beds, and instead I tear them off at the ground and use them as mulch. This method leaves the soil untilled; tilling exposes new seeds, and you just get more weeds. But I still pull weeds that are close to my veggie plants.

4. Phenology journal:

This year I've been recording the phenology in my garden to broaden my awareness, deepen my connection to the wildlife around me, and to better understand the calendar of my environment and how it is changing. I'm focusing on a few native plants and personal favorites in my yard, the birds at my feeder, and some specific patches of leaf mulch (for insects).

This transition week to May has been warm, with showers. The average temperature this last week was 66º'F, and we've had the 48th wettest year-to-date (January-March).

June 7, 2025, Phenology Notes:

• General: Sunrise = 5:30 am; Sunset = 8:53 pm; Day length = 16 hours. Temperature high = 86º; Low = 48.9º.

• Rainfall so far this year: 13.05 inches (compared to an average of 23.28 inches). Rainfall in Eugene during the first half of 2025 has been significantly below average, particularly in April and May; Eugene is experiencing "abnormally dry" conditions, according to Drought.gov.

• Birds: Regular array of chickadees, stellar jay's, and finches. Also, my Anna's hummer.

• Plants: Oregon Sunshine and Yarrow - both in full bloom; Milkweed- coming up all over the place; Serviceberry has berries! Douglas Spirea- just budding out; Colomia ready to bloom any day.

• Insects: lots of bees out; I've had a sighting of a Swallowtail butterfly and a Lorquin's Admiral (perhaps)!

• Fungi