What to Plant in June: A Monthly Planting Guide

When it comes to gardening in June, most gardens are already started. Many people worry it's too late to plant, but it's not!

If you haven't started a vegetable garden yet or want a prolonged harvest by succession planting, there are a lot of varieties you can still plant! Whether you’re direct sowing seed or transplanting seedlings, use this guide to learn what to plant in June.

Let’s dive into the world of summer gardening! The best is yet to come.

Month-to-Month Planting Schedule

Have you ever thought, “It is just too late for me to grow a garden”? It seems there is always at least one variable that could get in the way or discourage us from gardening this year.

I want to inspire you to get out in your garden anyway, even if it is late, and even if conditions aren’t perfect! Get outside, find the silver lining, work within your parameters, and try to find the crops that will do well in the season you are given.

I hope you use these monthly planting guides to help get the most out of your garden in every season:

• Winter Sowing

• What to Plant in February

• What to Plant in March

• What to Plant in April

• What to Plant in May

• What to Plant in July

• What to Plant in August

• What to Plant in September

What to Plant in June Using Succession Sowing

Succession sowing is a gardening method of planting in stages. The same crop is planted multiple times in the same growing season, at intervals, to create a continuous harvest.

Any time you want a prolonged harvest, where not everything comes at once, you should use the succession planting method. You can succession sow almost anything, like zucchini, beans, and even tomatoes!

The following list is the plants that I already have in the garden, but I am succession sowing more in June for an extended harvest. It may surprise you that I am still planting these in June:

• Beets - I am planting three successions of beets: one in the spring, one in June, and one in the fall garden. The variety I am planting in June is the Ruby Queen Beet.

• Broccoli - You may be surprised to learn that broccoli can actually do well in hot weather. It just doesn’t like cool weather transitioning to hot. My Calabrese Broccoli is going in the ground in June.

• Zucchini - Zucchini grows fast, produces fast, and can be done fast, depending on the season. I am planting more Black Beauty Zucchini as a backup in case the zucchini that I’ve already planted gets squash bugs or powdery mildew. (Here are more tips on growing zucchini.)

• Lettuce - Crisp Mint Lettuce is one of the few types of lettuce that you can actually grow later in the season, as long as you sow it early and keep it protected with lots of water and maybe even some shade cloth.

• Cabbage - Danish Ball Head Cabbage is a late season cabbage that is bolt and split resistant.

• Carrots- Carrots will not germinate if it is hot and dry! If you’re planting carrots in June (like the Royal Chantenay Carrot), make sure that you sow them when the nights are still cool and cover them with cardboard to keep them cool, dark, and moist so they will germinate.

• Cucumbers - I highly recommend planting multiple successions of cucumbers throughout the season for maximum success.

Growing Plants on a Trellis

I love to grow vertically rather than horizontally in my garden, and it is not too late to start some plants to grow on my cattle panel trellis! In June, I am planting these varieties:

• Pole Beans - Oriental Yard Long Pole Beans do so well when planted in June. Later this summer, they will drape down from the trellis, looking awesome.

• Melons - I love growing personal-sized melons on garden trellises. The Ha’Ogen Melon and the Kazakh Melon are two of our favorites!

Intercropping With Herbs

If you have been watching the Migardener YouTube channel, you probably already know I am a huge advocate of intercropping! Intercropping is the practice of growing different crops interspersed together (instead of the traditional method of monocropping in plots or rows) to mimic nature and naturally reduce pest pressure.

In June, you still have time to plant a lot of herbs and intercrop them with your other plants to grow more food in less space. I like to plant basil around my tomatoes for natural pest reduction against tomato hornworms.

More Crops You Can Still Start From Seed in June

• Asparagus - If you want to start asparagus from seed, remember it is a perennial. The earlier you start it, the more chance it has of surviving the winter. 

• Corn - It is a big mistake to plant corn too early! You want to wait until the soil is warm, about 50°F. That might be May or June in your climate, or even July. (Here’s a blog post where you can learn all about how to plant and grow corn successfully.)

• Bunching Onions - Unlike bulbing onions, bunching onions can be sown almost any time: spring, summer, fall, and even winter in some places!

• Greens - While there aren’t many greens that thrive in summer weather, my three favorite greens for June planting can handle the heat. They are Black Magic Kale, Rainbow Swiss Chard, and Red Malabar Spinach.

Colorful Flowers to Add to the Garden in June

Plant some flowers to brighten your summer garden and attract beneficial pollinators. Zinnias, sunflowers, nasturtiums, and marigolds are great options for June planting.

I like to intercrop nasturtiums around the base of my sunflowers because, believe it or not, they are not affected by the roots of sunflowers like some other plants are. Sunflowers chase the sun, attract butterflies and bees, and yield delicious edible seeds. These mammoth sunflowers are a beautiful plant that will make anyone smile when they see them.

Essential Garden Tasks for June

Here are a few gardening tasks that will keep your garden thriving as you head into summer:

• Pest Prevention- Be proactive! Now is the time to consider natural pest prevention methods before you have a problem.

• Keep Animals Out of the Garden - Read this blog post to learn about proven animal pest deterrents to protect your garden.

• Attract Pollinators - Pollinators are essential in the garden! Many foods that we consume daily need pollinators to produce their fruit. Have you had issues like tomato plants dropping flowers? You may have improper pollination due to a lack of pollinators. Planting more plants that will attract beneficial pollinators (like lavender, cosmos, milkweed, and sunflowers) only benefits your garden!

• Pruning - Pruning can improve plant health by increasing airflow and reducing diseases, pests, and stress. Read these blog posts to learn how to prune tomatoes, prune grapevines, prune onions, prune cucumbers, and even zucchini plants.

• Harvesting - Depending on when you started your garden and what you planted, you may already be harvesting lettuce or other crops. For those of you who planted garlic in the fall, it may be time to harvest garlic scapes.

I hope you enjoyed this blog post and learned something new!