Here are some easy plants to grow in June, plus tips on what varieties to grow and plants to grow from seed this month.
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Here are some of the best plants to grow in a garden in June.
June is a time when many gardeners are at last beyond the last freeze date. This means that it’s generally safe to plant frost tender, warm weather loving plants in the garden.
The good news is that, generally, it’s not too late to plant a great garden in June. Pick up a few tomato plants, pepper plants, and marigold plants from a local garden center, and plant seeds for a fast growing flower like cosmos or zinnias, and you can have a beautiful garden in no time.
The month of June is a fantastic time to plant a colorful garden that brightens up the landscape. Whether you grow a container garden or plant a garden in raised beds or in the ground, there are plenty of plants to look forward to planting this June.
Here is a list of plants to consider growing in June, along with some items that can be useful for growing plants in June and maintaining a garden throughout the summer.
To get a head start on growing a garden in June, consider buying plants at a local plant sale, plant nursery, or garden center for an instant garden. Fast growing plants like basil, cosmos, and zinnias may be grown from seed, especially if you live and garden in an area with a long growing season.
In addition to checking out this list, it can be helpful to consult with your local university extension service to find out more about plants that grow well in your area during various times of the year. While these plants may not grow well in every garden, they can grow well in a variety of places, bringing color, beauty, and a flavorful harvest to many gardens.
In This Post | What Plants to Plant in June
Here are a variety of plants to consider planting in June. Click the link to jump to a specific section.
In This Section | What to Plant in June
Here are some of the best plants to grow in June, including tomatoes, vegetables, and flowers to plant in June.
1—Beans
Beans are one of the easiest plants to grow in a garden, especially if you grow a space saving, bush bean variety. Popular “green” bean varieties include Blue Lake 274 Bush, Contender, Jade, and Provider bush beans.
To add even more beauty to the garden, grow striped or purple podded beans, like Dragon’s Tongue, Purple Dove, Red Swan Bush, or Royalty Purple Pod bush beans.
Yellow podded wax beans, like Gold Rush Yellow Wax, Golden Butterwax, or Golden Wax Improved, can be used to brighten up a garden.
Plant bush beans with companion plants like summer thyme, dwarf marigolds, and zinnias to add even more beauty and color to the garden.
2—Cucumbers
Cool, crisp cucumbers are one of the most refreshing vegetables to eat during summer. You can use them to add fresh flavor to sandwiches and salads or use them to make refrigerator pickles.
Cucumbers are also easy to grow. The plants can grow quickly, especially during the early days of summer when it’s warm enough for cucumbers to thrive, but not so hot that the vines wither.
There are two main types of cucumbers—slicing cucumbers and pickling cucumbers—so you’ll have to decide what you want to use the cucumbers for, in order to decide which variety is the best to grow.
Slicing cucumbers are best for fresh uses, such as adding them to salads, sandwiches, or wraps, while pickling cucumbers are used for pickling and canning purposes.
Look for fast growing, disease resistant cucumber varieties like Ashley, Bush Champion, Diva, or Marketmore (slicing cucumbers), or Arkansas Little Leaf, Boston Pickling, Calypso F1, Homemade Pickles, or Picklebush (pickling cucumbers).
A cucumber trellis can be used to grow cucumbers vertically in a raised bed or in ground garden.
3—Peppers
Peppers are one of the best vegetables to grow in June in the garden. These lively plants produce fruit in a variety of colors, and many pepper varieties are compact enough to grow in pots.
Some of the best sweet peppers to grow in a garden include California Wonder bell peppers, Lipstick peppers, and Jimmy Nardello Italian sweet peppers.
King of the North bell peppers are good bell peppers to grow in areas with short growing seasons. Cubanelle peppers and Doe Hill Sweet peppers are also good, short season sweet peppers to grow.
Great hot peppers to grow include Anaheim peppers, Cayenne Long Thin peppers, Fish peppers, Jalapeño peppers, and Poblano peppers. Remember to wear gloves when handling hot peppers, especially if you’ll be exposed to hot pepper seeds or membranes. Hot peppers can irritate the skin and other body parts, so use caution.
Many of the pepper varieties that are listed above can be grown in pots. Fabric plant pots can be a great choice for growing plants, especially if you garden in an area with mild weather conditions. The fabric construction is designed to help plant roots breathe more easily.
Pepper plants can be one of the easiest plants to grow in a container garden, plus their colorful appearance can add beauty to a garden or landscape.
4—Tomatoes
June is a great time to plant tomato seedlings in the garden, whether you’ve grown the tomato plants from seed at home or purchased the tomato plants at a local plant nursery or garden center.
You can grow tomatoes in a variety of colors, ranging from red and orange to green and purple, and so tomato plants can really make a garden pop.
Cherry tomatoes are some of the easiest tomatoes to grow, and some varieties provide gardeners with a lot of bang for their buck. Black Cherry, Gardener’s Delight, Sungold F1, Super Sweet 100 F1, Sweetie, and Yellow Pear are just a few examples of cherry tomato varieties that can produce tomatoes all summer long.
For a container garden, look for tomato varieties like Bush Goliath F1, Container Choice F1, and Patio tomatoes. A tomato cage can help to provide support for growing tomato plants.
When it comes to larger slicer and beefsteak tomato varieties, heirloom tomatoes can offer delicious, old fashioned flavor, while newer, hybrid varieties can offer disease resistance and tasty, homegrown flavor. In some cases, you may be able to find these attributes in one tomato variety or another.
Old fashioned favorites like Amish Paste, Cherokee Purple, Dr. Wyche’s Yellow, Jaune Flamme, Pink Brandywine, Roma, and Rutgers are popular heirloom tomato varieties to grow, while other favorites like Better Boy F1, Celebrity F1, Chef’s Choice F1, Early Girl F1, and Sunchocola F1 are modern, disease resistant tomato varieties to grow.
Use fresh homegrown tomatoes to make delicious fresh tomato salad, homemade spaghetti sauce, and other great summer recipes.
5—Herbs
Herbs can be some of the easiest plants to grow in June, especially when you start with herb seedlings or small plants from a local plant nursery or lawn and garden center.
In many places, great herbs to grow from plants in June include basil, cilantro, dill, parsley, and rosemary. Fast growing basil may be grown from seed, especially in places with a long growing season.
6—Marigolds
Marigolds are one of the hardest working plants in the summer garden. Not only do they add color and beauty to the landscape, certain types of marigolds can also help to discourage nematodes and harmful bugs and insects from getting too comfortable in your garden.
French marigolds (T. patula) release a scent that many bugs don’t like. Companion planting marigolds near your tomatoes, peppers, and other garden vegetables may help discourage unwanted visitors from finding your plants.
Plus, once they get established, marigold plants can grow from summer into early fall, providing lasting beauty and color with little maintenance. Keep the plants watered, fertilized, and deadheaded by removing spent flowers from the plant, and watch them thrive.
7—Sunflowers
It can be said that a happy garden is one that has a sunflower growing in it. These cheerful plants are great to use to brighten up a corner or to attract birds and butterflies to a garden.
While golden yellow sunflowers are widely recognized, sunflowers come in many colors, including shades of red, purple, and brown. Evening Sun sunflowers are just one example.
The stately Lemon Queen sunflower is a popular variety to grow, while the unique Italian White sunflower is sure to turn heads.
Teddy Bear sunflowers are fun to grow in landscape gardens and in children’s gardens, and many people will be surprised to learn that the flower is a type of sunflower.
Many sunflower varieties grow quite tall, so if you’re looking to grow sunflowers that have an easier to manage size, consider planting dwarf sunflower varieties.
Dwarf sunflower varieties, like Gummy Bear and Sun Spot Dwarf Cola sunflowers, can also be grown in a container garden, adding color, texture, and beauty to a small space garden.
8—Zinnias
Last, but not least, zinnias make a great plant to grow in a June garden. These flowers are low maintenance, colorful, and easy to grow from seed. They are also favorite flowers of hummingbirds and butterflies, especially when grown in bright colors like red, yellow, or purple.
Zinnias grow quickly from seed and can produce blooms all season long. Remove spent flowers from the plant to encourage continuous blooms.
Although zinnias are a mostly carefree plant to grow, some varieties are susceptible to powdery mildew. Look for disease resistant zinnias to grow, or plants with low susceptibility to powdery mildew—like some varieties of Mexican zinnias, as a way to enjoy the flowers all season long.
Other Flowers to Plant in June
There are other great flower seeds to plant in June, including cosmos, which grow and produce blooms quickly. Nasturtiums may also be grown from seed in June if you live in a place with cooler summers.
If you live in an area with a long, hot growing season, then celosia, gomphrena, and strawflower can be great heat tolerant flowers to grow in a summer garden.
Perennials to plant in June include coreopsis, echinacea and rudbeckia. Buy plants from a plant nursery or garden center to get a head start on growing flowers that attract butterflies and beneficial insects. These plants can also be great for supporting these insects as the warm summer months give way to fall.
This post was all about what to grow in the garden in June.
Credits
- Photos by Anita Austvika / Unsplash, Tania Malréchauffé / Unsplash, Zoe Schaeffer / Unsplash, David Dibert / Pexels, Amber Malquist / Unsplash, and Skyler Ewing / Pexels
- Photos are for illustrative purposes only.