Honey moon garden

“No price is set on the lavish summer;

June may be had by the poorest comer.”

—James Russell Lowell

Traditionally, June is the best time to harvest honey from the hives. The sweetness of honey-laden foods is offered to newlyweds to encourage love and fertility. A dozen species may burst their buds on a single day in June. The blossoms provide bees with plenty of pollen to replenish stores of honey in their hives. Blooming gardens offer an enriched habitat for hungry insects and birds. When the earth is newly warm and the air is sweet with fragrance, gardeners begin to fulfill the promise of savory food production, and colorful floral display.

This year is a little different. Everyone is feeling the crunch of a slowed economy. Gardens are more important, because many people want to save on food costs. Growing what you eat is very satisfying. New and experienced gardeners share similar hopes for good growing weather. We all learn by doing. Gardens tend to absorb a host of trials and errors without complaint. The great horticulturist, Luther Burbank, reminds us that the essential ingredient of a successful garden is love. The more I do it, I find that the work of gardening eases into pleasure. Dividends from modest effort with soil and seed can be astonishing. A broccoli seed, the size of a pinhead, can become a sizable complement to more than one meal. For those on the fence about their ability to make a garden, this is the season to give your thumb a chance, whatever color it may be.

A new garden can be maintained with nothing more than “books” or sections of hay bales. These can suppress weeds and feed the soil at the same time, while allowing your squash, corn and beans to thrive. The effulgence of a June day can infuse the spirit with an appreciation for simply being alive. A few cheery gladioli set near a run of peas, tomatoes, or carrots add incentive to keep gardening. I’ve even put in a few trumpet lilies for beauty and fragrance between new asparagus crowns. I’m trying several climbing bean varieties with yellow, purple, green and red striped pods. Between these, I’ll plant blue, purple and white morning glory vines for an additional show.

Our Zone 5 gardens are running at full tilt by now, and it’s time to put in warm-weather vegetables (corn, beans, peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, squash, melons, pumpkins, etc.). Bush beans can be planted in short rows every two weeks for successive crops. It’s helpful to thin emerging seedlings regularly, to give the remaining plants ample room to expand. I keep new plants well watered, and add mulch to retain soil moisture during heat waves. I side dress young plants with a combined compost, manure and seaweed tea for a boost of nutrients, as a mid-season pick-up.

The sun reaches its zenith in June. European folklore tells us that good weather in “Flaming June” is required if there is to be a good harvest. If many bats fly in the evening it’s a sign of hot, dry weather, and if swallows fly near the ground it’s a sign of coming rain. A dripping June puts the world in tune.