What to Do In Your Backyard in June
Average temperatures: High 91 Low 71
Average rainfall is 7.35 inches
First day of summer June 20.
What to plant
Vegetables: Amaranth, boniato, calabaza, chayote, cherry tomatoes, dasheen, Everglades tomatoes, Jicama, lima beans (NF), Seminole pumpkin, sweet cassava, sweet potatoes, and yard-long beans.
Flowers: Angelonia, begonias, bush Daisy, Butterfly Plant, caladium, cat's whiskers, celosia, coleus, coreopsis, Dahlberg daisy, firespike, four-o'clock, gaillardia, gerbera daisy, ginger, goldenrod, impatiens, kalanchoe, lantana, lion’s ear, marigolds, melampodium, Mexican petunia, Mexican sunflower, moon flower, Porterweed, pentas, periwinkle, portulaca, purslane, salvia, showy primrose, shrimp plant, Stokes aster, sunflower, torenia and zinnias.
Herbs: Anise, basil, bay laurel, cardamom, chives, culantro, cumin, ginger, lemon balm, lemongrass, marjoram, mint, oregano, rosemary, sage, turmeric, and thyme.
Bulbs-type plants: Achimenes, African iris, agapanthus, amaryllis, Aztec lily, blackberry lily, bulbine, caladiums, canna, crinum, crocosmia, day lily, eucharis lily, gladiolus, gloriosa lily, Hedychium, spp. peacock ginger, society garlic, rain lily, and walking iris.
Lawn care
Fertilizer application is over until October 1st. Lawn fertilizing laws vary throughout Florida; check the rules in your county. https://ffl.ifas.ufl.edu/fertilizer/ Most counties have summer fertilizer ban from June 1st through October 1st.
Do not use herbicides when temperatures are over 85 degrees.
Yellow lawns can often be greened up with an iron only application where permitted.
Fill bare areas or start new lawns with seed, plugs or sod for the grass type desired.
Avoid sodding shady areas during summer to prevent rot problems caused by the wet weather or use a shade-tolerant St. Augustine turf.
Water new lawns every day for the first week, every other day the second week, and every three days the third week. By end of 4 weeks, lawns are established and only need 1 - 1½ inches of water a week. Overwatering causes new lawns to decline.
Check monthly, adjust and replace sprinklers to only irrigate the lawn, not driveways, sidewalks, or streets.
Track the water lawns receive; up to 3/4-inch a week is normally adequate at each watering or rainfall.
Walk yards on a weekly basis to catch pest issues early, look for chewed foliage, pests, even under leaves, and webbing.
Chinch bugs cause yellow to brown areas in St. Augustine lawns; treat when found.
Sod webworms are active right now. Check for damage.
Notice moths flying up in your turfgrass? Sodweb worms can be controlled with Merit (imidacloprid) and should be applied in June.
Maintain the turf at correct height; learn the proper height for your lawn type.
Sharpen the mower blade after five mowings.
Mow in different directiona each time the lawn is cut to avoid ruts in the turf.
Lawns that are overfertilized and overwatered are more susceptible to thatch.
Aerate older lawns (5 to 7 years and more) and immediately water lawns that are compacted, hard to wet, or have nematode problems.
Replace constantly declining turf in dense shade with mulch or a ground cover.
Check rain sensor devices for efficiency this month.
Landscape chores
Due to severe drought (2024-2025) and January 2026 freeze, some plants and trees suffered dieback need pruning.
Trim Norfolk Island palms with dead branches and let new growth emerge.
Add new plants when the rainy season returns to help with the watering.
During hot weather new plants may need daily watering for several weeks.
Wet the root balls and holes several times before adding new plants to the landscape. Let drain and repeat before planting new plants.
Tropical bromeliads, orchids, Spathiphyllum, Aluminum plants and dracaena like shady sites.
Mix old soil from containers and raised beds with organic matter before planting.
Deadhead and remove broken and winter-damaged foliage and stems from perennials, roses, and spring flowering shrubs.
Hurricane season begins June 1; it’s not too late to have your trees checked and trimmed.
Make plans now to protect plants and landscape accessories from wind and storm damage.
Don’t let weeds grow out of control; remove them by hand.
Do not prune azaleas or camellias after June.
Wait till August to trim back tropical shrubs.
Trim back poinsettias 4” to 6” after a foot of new growth to keep them compact.
Established plants do not need watering during the rainy season.
Hot summer days make it difficult to transplant trees and shrubs; wait until cooler weather.
Root cuttings of shrubs and foliage plants to grow more plants.
Feed shrubs and palms with a slow-release fertilizer where permitted.
Give container gardens a weekly feeding or use a slow-release fertilizer as labeled.
Divide orchids and bromeliads outgrowing their containers.
Feed orchids every other week with a diluted liquid or slow-release fertilizer as labeled.
Most orchids and bromeliads grow best in the shade of a tree, water frequently when hot & dry.
Check out terrestrial orchids and full-sun bromeliads aavailable for sunny areas.
Feed lilies and other aquatic plants in home water gardens.
Trim formal hedges after they produce 4- to 6-inches of new growth.
Groom hanging baskets removing old flowers and lanky shoots.
Clean and refill bird baths as needed.
Place Summit Responsible Solutions Mosquito Bits and Dunks in bird baths, containers, and places that are filled with water.
Remove sprouts, Spanish moss, and tillandsias, from the trunk and base of crape myrtle, maple and similar trees.
Trim suckers and branches smaller than your pinkie from crapemyrtle before they get too large.
Vegetable and fruit care
Keep vegetable plantings moist and fertilize monthly to continue harvests into summer.
Make fertilizer applications every 3 to 4 weeks or use as slow-release product as instructed.
Check planting lists to determine what your family likes to eat for summer planting.
Obtain the seeds you need now for summer and fall planting; store in the refrigerator.
Many herbs can survive the summer if kept moist, but not wet. and lightly fertilized.
Continue cutting and using herbs to keep the plants productive; preserve extras.
When gardens will not receive summer plantings consider soil solarization to bake out insect and disease.
Sweet potatoes are easy to grow; start transplants from a sprouting grocery store root.
Hand pull weeds in and near the garden under control to prevent pest problems for Fall.
Continue to add fruit trees, shrubs and vines from containers to the landscape.
Learn the pests of your new fruits, check trees regularly to decide if you need a control plan.
Prune to reshape blueberry shrubs and hedges and blackberries.
Feed bananas monthly; harvest stalks when the first “hand” forms begin to yellow. A hand is the group of bananas that you can buy in a grocery store. A stalk of bananas can have many hands.
Feed pineapples with a slow-release fertilizer following label instructions.
Provide citrus trees with proper fertilizing and pest control to avoid the greening disease.
Foliage and house plant care
Find a spot in the sunny garden for Easter lilies; plants gradually decline & regrow in winter.
Give declining foliage plants a rest outdoors in the shade.
Repot plants needing a new container.
Feed plants outdoors every two weeks and indoors monthly.
Use slow-release fertilizer as instructed to stretch the time between feedings.
Wash away insects with soapy water.
Remove declining leaves, stems and blooms; pinch the tips of houseplant shoots to cause branching.