06/07/2026
Dan Gill Garden Tips. Here are some for early June.
GARDEN TIPS
> Vegetables to plant in June include cantaloupe, cucuzza, eggplant, luffa, okra, peanuts, hot peppers, pumpkin, Southern peas, sweet potato (slips – rooted cuttings) and watermelons. Although squash and cucumbers can be planted in June and July, production is difficult during mid-summer due to pest problems. In late June you can plant seeds of tomatoes, bell peppers and eggplant to produce transplants for fall production.
> During hot, dry summer weather, be sure to check your landscape frequently to see if you need to do any irrigation. If irrigation is needed, it is healthier for your plants to water deeply and thoroughly occasionally rather than lightly frequently. A rain gauge is useful in determining how much rain your landscape is receiving and can help determine when to water.
> This is a good time to plant herbs that tolerate the heat well, such as basil, perilla, sesame, sweet Annie and Mexican tarragon, using seeds or transplants. Many herbs already in your garden, such as thyme, sage, oregano, lavender, dill, cilantro and parsley, will be less productive as the weather gets hotter. Harvest freely now. You can freeze or dry herbs you harvest now for use through the summer.
>When gladioluses finish blooming, prune off the faded flower spike but leave the foliage intact. The foliage will produce food that is stored in the newly developing corm insuring a large, healthy corm that will bloom well next year.
> The intense heat of the hot season has arrived, with daytime highs reaching the 90s and nighttime lows staying in the 70s. We will live with this fierce heat for the next five months until cooler weather begins to make its way into our area in mid to late September or October. Although the ideal planting season for planting hardy trees and shrubs in the landscape is over, many heat tolerant vegetables, bedding plants, summer bulbs and tropicals can be planted now. Be sure to pay careful attention to watering new plantings.
> Keep up with w**ding. This time of year, w**ds can get out of hand very quickly. Use mulches wherever possible and make sure the layer of mulch is two to three inches thick. If you need help with w**d identification or herbicide recommendations, contact your parish LSU AgCenter Extension horticulturist.
> Use hand pruners or garden scissors to cut the stems when harvesting bell peppers and eggplants. The fruit stems are tough, and it is easy to break a branch or damage the plant trying to break them off by hand. Be sure not to leave eggplants too long before harvesting. The skin should be glossy and shiny when harvested, not dull.
> Be cautious applying w**d killers to your lawn during summer. High temperatures increase the chance that many of w**d killers that we use in the spring will discolor or damage the grass. However, MSM Turf (metsulfuron) and Celsius lawn w**d killers can be used during summer if needed to control w**ds. They do a great job controlling Virginia buttonw**d.
> If you planted petunias this spring, don’t be surprised if they begin to look tired in midsummer. Petunias generally do not tolerate the intense heat of summers this far south. When they languish, pull them up and replace them with more heat tolerant bedding plants such as angelonia, blue daze, celosia, coleus, gaillardia, lantana, ornamental sweet potato, Profusion zinnia, marigold, melampodium, narrow-leaf zinnia, pentas, periwinkle, purslane, salvia, scaevola or torenia.
> Spring and early summer vegetables planted back last March, like snap beans, cucumbers, squash and tomatoes, often finish up in late June or July. When you remove them, you may plant heat tolerant vegetables like Southern peas, peanuts or okra to continue harvests. Or you could plant a green manure crop in the bed to improve the soil over the summer. Peanuts and Southern peas make excellent green manure crops. Just as the young plants come into flower, chop them up and till them under. Then apply a few inches of mulch or a layer of cardboard to control w**ds. The green manurer crop will decompose in the soil over the summer, and the bed will be ready to plant your fall crops.
> Remove suckers that appear at the base of crape myrtles promptly as soon as they appear by cutting them off at their point of origin at the trunk or even below ground. Do not leave a stub or they are more likely to resprout. You could use a sprout inhibitor (available at local nurseries or online) to help reduce how often you must do this.
