June, south of the equator

June is where the northern picture and the southern one part company completely. A northern June is high summer and a southern June is the start of the planting year. The top growth has stopped, the roots have not, and that is exactly the condition in which a plant establishes best.

In the garden

Plant liliums the day you buy them. They have no papery skin and lose condition fast on a shelf, and they want perfect drainage. Plant daffodils and tulips if any remain unplanted, and keep the winter and spring flowering bulbs going in.

Plant the hardy perennials so the roots take hold over the cold weeks. Transplant evergreens and conifers, and prune the conifers lightly. Prepare the planting holes now for the deciduous trees and shrubs that will be moved next month, because a hole dug and refilled with compost in advance is worth more than any amount of aftercare.

Sow the hardy root vegetables: parsnip, carrot, radish and turnip. In the winter rainfall regions sow peas, broad beans, celery and turnips. Sow spinach, kale, leeks, onions and parsley, and plant established seedlings of broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts and cabbage. Plant the winter colour: Iceland poppies, pansies, violas, primulas, calendula, stocks, snapdragons, salvia, petunias and marigolds.

Why winter is the planting season

It is worth being explicit about this, because a gardener reading a northern book will get it exactly wrong. A plant put in now has months in which the roots grow and the top does not, so by the time spring arrives it has a root system already in place. The same plant bought in flower in October spends its first summer trying to catch up while the heat is against it. Winter planting is not a compromise here. It is the better option.

In the house

Water as little as you reasonably can. This is the low point of the year for light and the plants are doing almost nothing, so the interval is at its longest and the compost should be allowed to dry well down between waterings.

Keep the leaves off cold glass and away from any heater. Turn the pots each week, because in this light everything leans. Do not mist a cold room, and do not add humidity to a plant that is not growing.

Look after the camellias, which are at their best this month, and keep the acid loving plants watered and mulched even now.

What not to do yet

Do not repot, prune or feed a houseplant. Do not prune the roses yet, because July is the traditional month and pruning too early encourages growth that the next frost will take. And do not cut back frost damaged growth until spring, because it shelters what is behind it.