Planting In June

It’s a common question from our customers: “Is it too late to plant?”  Many people think that all annuals and vegetables have to be planted by Memorial Day, but this isn’t true. Annuals and most vegetables, not to mention shrubs, perennials, trees and herbs can all be planted throughout the summer. Here’s the low-down on summer planting:

On Cape Cod it’s common for the soil to remain cool until the middle of June, so annuals and vegetables frequently don’t start to really grow until later in the month. This means that by mid-July the plants put in the ground in late June are usually the same size as those that were planted before Memorial Day!  In our region the night time temperatures can also be cool early in the summer, and the annuals don’t grow as quickly in these conditions either. The long and the sort of it is that if you plant annuals, vegetables and herbs anytime in June they will very quickly catch up and be full the rest of the summer.

Perennials, shrubs and trees can be planted all summer as long as attention is paid to proper watering. The most important thing to know is not to depend on the average irrigation system to water new plants. Many of these systems are set up to go off for a short amount of time every two or three days – this isn’t sufficient to deeply water a plant whose root system is the size of the pot it just came out of. Water new plants separately, soaking them deeply twice a week in hot weather and once a week if the temperatures are cooler. Continue this watering through the fall while your new plantings are establishing their root systems.

Another form of summer planting is the refreshing of pots and boxes, or adding annuals into perennial gardens where early-flowering plants are finished flowering. Adding new annuals into containers or gardens provides color for the rest of the summer and usually into fall.

So don’t worry if the calendar says it’s late June. Go ahead and plant something!