What to Grow in Your PNW Garden in June
June is the month where I stop apologizing for my garden and start actually running it. Soil temps in Redmond are finally holding above 60°F, the grey drizzle is mostly behind us, and everything that was just a seed catalog fantasy two months ago can go in the ground right now.
This is also the month I have to talk myself out of planting things that are already doomed. More on that in a minute.
What You Can Still Transplant Right Now
Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, squash. If you’ve got starts sitting in 4-inch pots, June is not too late. Pretty ideal, actually, once our nights reliably stay above 50°F, which is right about now. Peppers especially are picky about soil temp because capsaicin production ramps up under heat stress, which is science for “plant them now or get bland peppers.” One sentence of biochemistry and we’re moving on.
If you don’t have transplants yet, Sky Nursery and places like it will have tomato starts through mid-June and often into early July. Not the cheapest option, but a $3.47 start is still a better deal than a $6 heirloom tomato in August. Basic math.
Get your supports in now, before the plants need them. I did not do this once. Tried to shove a tomato cage through a root ball the size of a basketball sometime in late July and the cage won and the plant was not happy about any of it. Stakes, cages, trellis panels, whatever you’re using, put them in at planting time. Future you will be grateful.
What to Direct Sow in June
This is where June really earns its keep. The list of stuff you can direct sow right now is long and genuinely exciting if you’re a certain kind of person.
I am that person.
Beans. Both bush and pole. Beans germinate best around 70-75°F and the soil is finally there. Direct sow every two weeks through early July and you’ll have a steady harvest instead of the bean avalanche I end up with every year when I plant them all at once. I know better. I still do it.
Summer squash and cucumbers. Sow direct or transplant, either works. Cucumbers are insect-pollinated, so if you’re growing them under row cover for pest control, pull the cover once they flower or you’ll get a lot of sad yellow blossoms and zero cucumbers. Ask me how I know.
Melons. Technically yes, but PNW melons are an act of faith. You want a warm wall, a black plastic mulch to hold soil heat, and the sunniest spot you have. They can work. They are not the easy win. I grow them anyway because my daughter insists and I have no spine when it comes to seed requests.
Corn. Wind-pollinated, which means it needs to be planted in a block, not a row, or the pollen misses and you get half-empty ears. Minimum 4×4 block. Our season is tight for corn in Redmond so pick a short-season variety, 70 days or under.
Carrots (late sowing). A succession sowing now will size up in fall, which is actually when carrots taste better anyway. Cold converts their starches to sugars. The garden doing something useful for once.
Succession lettuce. Keep sowing every 2-3 weeks in a shady spot. Full sun in July will bolt them in about 11 minutes. Light shade buys you another few weeks of usable leaves. I tuck mine under the north side of the bean trellis and it works surprisingly well.
What to Stop Planting (Seriously, Stop)
Brassicas. Broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts started from seed now won’t mature before heat stress hits them, and cauliflower especially will button out on you and produce a golf ball instead of a head. Frustrating and a waste of seed. Save them for late July starts that will overwinter or produce in fall.
Peas. They’re done. Peas want cool soil and cool air and we’ve lost both. Any pea planted now will limp along and then give up sometime in August. Let it go. Lettuce-not dwell on it. (Sorry. Couldn’t help it.)
The Cheap Maintenance Jobs June Demands
Mulch everything that isn’t a seedbed. A 2-3 inch layer of wood chips or straw keeps soil moisture from evaporating and cuts your watering time in half. Soil microbes under mulch are also more active because they prefer the stable moisture and temperature, which means better nutrient cycling without you doing anything. Free fertilizer, kind of. I get free wood chips from a local tree service that posts on neighborhood apps when they have a load to drop.
Side-dress your heavy feeders. A handful of balanced fertilizer or a good dose of fish emulsion around tomatoes, squash, and corn now sets them up for the push. Cheap and it works.
Slugs are still very much a June problem in Western Washington. A shallow dish of cheap beer sunk to soil level catches more slugs than anything I’ve tried. Yes, you will feel slightly bad about it. The slugs have eaten my entire first planting of basil three years running, so I have made my peace.
June is the month the garden stops being a project and starts being a system. Get the warm-season stuff in, keep sowing beans and lettuce in waves, put your supports in before you need them, and mulch like you mean it. That’s really it. The garden will take it from here.
Photo by fr0ggy5 on Unsplash
