Top Tips & Jobs for Gardeners in June

Make the most of the warmer, wetter weather in June with our Gardening Angels top tips for June Gardening Jobs.

1. Sow & plant out tender vegetables

It’s a great time to plant out your marrows & courgettes outdoors as they will thrive in warmer growing conditions now the risk of frosts have passed.

Top Tip: When sowing your seeds, simply place them on top of your compost & push them down until they are covered. By growing marrows and courgettes in a Patio Allotment Planter you can ensure your plants are kept perfectly fed & watered & there’s even space to create your own salad garden in the central planter!

2. Create Your Own Salad Garden

Grow your own fresh summer salads in just 6 weeks with a self-watering Salad & Veg Planter. Perfect for growing radish, lettuce, spring onion and leafy salads from seed.

Top Tip: Once harvested, sow more salad seeds in succession to ensure a continued harvest throughout the summer. This is a great way to make use of your growing space and ensure you never run out of salad for your next BBQ.

Read our Salad Growing Guide for more top tips

3. Sow Beetroot, Broccoli & Carrots

Sow these tasty treats now and get ready for a bumper harvest later in the year.

Sow 15-20 seeds per 1 metre row then, after 3-4 weeks of growing, thin plants to 10-15 per row and start your second row.

Top Tip: If growing in a Quadgrow Root Veg Planter, spread seeds evenly, as this will provide room for them to grow into.

4. Help Pollinate Your Tomato Plants

Lightly tap your tomato plants or spray them with a fine mist of water.

This will help disperse the pollen, helping you to ensure a good fruit set on your tomatoes.

You’ll soon be on your way to bigger yields of your favourite tomatoes.

Read our tomato growing FAQ for more handy hints and grow your own bumper tomato harvests.

5. Prepare to Harvest

- Potatoes

Early Potatoes planted in February or March should may be ready for harvesting.  As the potatoes are buried, the best way to check if they are ready is just to dig them up and have a look for yourself!

If you’re the proud owner of a handy Potato Harvesting Scoop you can dig out potatoes from the compost without any risk of stabbing your spuds.

Top Tip: Your Potatoes will continue to grow steadily in the compost for several weeks, so only dig out enough for 1 meal at a time. This way, you’ll find yourself harvesting bigger & bigger potatoes as the weeks go by!

- Garlic & Spring Onions

If your Garlic & Spring Onions foliage is turning yellow and dying, they’re ready to be harvested, by simply pulling them up from the ground.

Did You Know? Once the foliage is all but completely keeled over, the leaves will have transferred all of their energy into the veg, which is why they will have appeared to die.

- Early Carrots

When the tops of your Early Carrots measure between ¾ and 1 inch, they’ll be ready to harvest. As with harvesting potatoes, pull up Carrots as and when you want to eat them.

Top Tip: Try to Harvest in the evening. This will help to reduce the risk of attracting carrot fly which can infect the plants roots causing damage to your prized crops.

6. Grow Some Windowsill Herbs

Even if you have your own plot or greenhouse, it’s always worth growing a few herbs on your kitchen windowsill.

Top Tip: The biggest problem herbs face is over and under-watering. Being poorly watered can affect the taste of herbs, not to mention also killing off your plants. 

A self-watering Herb Planter will ensure your homegrown or shop bought herbs are kept perfectly fed & watered for up to 2 weeks at a time; so no more wilted, tasteless herbs!

Plus, you’ll have a delicious garnish available the whole year round!

7. Say Goodbye to Crop Munching Slugs

June’s changeable weather can only mean one thing…Slugs & Snails! Warm and rainy weather creates the perfect breeding conditions for these slithering pests.

Top Tip: Surround the base of your flowers & vegetables with Organic Slug Pellets, which create an irritating barrier that slugs and snails hate to cross, sending them off to munch elsewhere. An added bonus: they are pet safe and child safe!

8. Prepare Summer Cuttings

Annual bedding plant cuttings from your Hydropod Cuttings Propagator should have started rooting. When roots are established, take your cuttings and pot them on into 9cm pots. Tap down pots to remove air pockets, then water them.

Top Tip: Put your potted cuttings into a Heated Propagator to help maintain moisture in the compost.

Favourite June Cuttings: Try taking cuttings from shrubs, such as lavender, hydrangeas and forsythia now you’ve got some extra space in your Hydropod Cuttings Propagator. Read our essential plants cuttings guide and grow more of your favourite decorative plants.

9. Keep Greenhouse & Polytunnels Ventilated

On hot days, open vents and windows in your greenhouse to ensure your plants don’t over heat.

If you’re using a greenhouse fan heater, you can switch to summer mode, which will circulate air around your greenhouse, reducing the risk of mould and fungal growth.

Top Tip: ‘Dampen Down’ your greenhouse to manage humidity. Simply water the floor of your greenhouse in the morning.

Throughout the day, the water will gradually evaporate, maintaining moisture levels in the air.

10. Protect Ripening Fruit

Cover Ripening fruit with a protective mesh netting.

Perfect for preventing pests from nibbling on your prized plants whilst still providing your plants with all the access to air, water and light they could ever dream of!

Protecting Hedgehogs – The Gardeners Best Friend

Hedgehogs are timid, shy little creatures, who like nothing more than milling about in your garden and gobbling up pests! Our Gardening Angels love their little hedgehog buddies and always make sure they are given a good home and everything they need to thrive.

These unassuming nocturnal mammals can eat up to 80 slugs a night each, making them an ideal garden companion. Hedgehogs suffer from poor eyesight, and rely on their keen sense of smell when hunting out pests. Their long snout also helps them when foraging for food, allowing them to dig out a meal from beneath the soil.

When the winter draws in and nights grow longer, hedgehogs become much more prevalent and can get themselves into a spot of bother. On bonfire night, hedgehogs can crawl under bonfires for warmth, only to risk being set alight when it is lit. If you are having a bonfire, do not set it up until the day you will be burning it. If left overnight, it is more likely that a hedgehog will sneak in.

By providing a hedgehog with a safe home away from bonfires, you can rest soundly knowing you have done your bit to help a hedgehog in need!

With the Hogitat Hedgehog Retreat, you can provide a safe haven for your little gardening friends. This hedgehog home provides a warm resting place where they will be protected from predators and the risks they may encounter on bonfire night.

As hedgehogs are nocturnal creatures, you will generally only see them out at night. However, if a hedgehog is unwell, hungry or suffering from the cold, you can find them wandering around in the daytime. If you spot a hedgehog during the day, contact an animal rescue group or try to pick it up and move it to the safety of your hedgehog home. If you do find yourself handling a hedgehog, don’t forget to wear gloves!

With a warm, breathable wooden structure, the Hogilo Hedgehog Home provides an ideal home for any rescued hedgehogs. Having been featured on BBC Autumn Watch and approved by the British Hedgehog Preservation Society, this deluxe hedgehog house will keep your spiky friends very happy.

During September and October, hedgehogs can give birth to litters of between 1 and 11 baby hedgehogs. These prickly pups will stay with their mothers for 4 to 7 weeks before heading out on their own. Young hedgehogs struggle to survive on their own, so ensure you have a hedgehog home set up with the right hedgehog food waiting for any visitors.

If you have any hedgehog facts or pictures of your own hedgehog friends, please feel free to get in touch on 0845 602 3774 or by email at info@greenhousesensation.co.uk. Our Gardening Angels are always happy to help!

Top Ten Handy Frost Protection Tips

Frost – it’s pretty, it’s bracing and it can wreak havoc on your prized plants. Here are some top tips from our Gardening Angels to keep frost off your plants and provide the ideal winter plant protection.

1. Use Mulch

Mulch is a composition of organic material such as straw, compost, bark chippings or decaying leaves that can be applied to the base of outdoor plants to retain soil moisture and protect roots from the cold for the ideal tree frost protection.

To avoid rodents taking up residence in mulch, wait until mid-November to apply, as decreasing temperatures will have already forced these pests into hibernation elsewhere.

2. Reduce Watering

Plants do not exert as much energy over winter and will retain water for longer. Outdoor plants will generally not need watering throughout the winter. With indoor plants, water less frequently to avoid overwatering and waterlogging soil, as this can lead to root rot.

If you are using an automatic watering system, reduce the volume and frequency of watering. Try to water plants in the morning so that they have time to absorb the water, as any excess water could freeze overnight.

3. Get Ripening

Don’t let frost ruin fruit and veg before they’ve had a chance to ripen! Pick anything that has yet to ripen, such as late-blooming chillies and tomatoes, before the frost hits and ripen it off the plant.

Enlist the help of a banana, apple or fully ripened tomato to assist with ripening. These release ethylene that speeds up the ripening process. Put these together in a bag or cardboard box (or a sock drawer for the traditionalists!) and check up on them every few days.

Alternatively, a ripening cover can also be used to cover your plants, allowing air and moisture to reach your plants whilst retaining heat that will speed up the ripening process.

4. Keep Leafy Veg Healthy

Leafy crops, such as salad leaves, chard, chicory and parsley, can last well into winter with the right frost protection. Cover plants with frost protection garden fleece or a cloche to keep it safe from cold and frosts. These can also be grown indoors, so consider moving your seedlings and plants to an electric heated propagator.

5. Use Frost Protection Fleece

When frost hits, it can freeze the water in plant cells and damage their cell walls. When the sun rises and defrosts the leaves, plant cell walls can completely rupture! By wrapping plants with a plant frost protection fleece, also known as horticultural fleece, you can protect them from the cold whilst still allowing light, water and air to reach them.

6. Protect Plant Roots from Freezing

Plants in pots are particularly vulnerable to frost damage as the Cold weather can be devastating for their roots. If roots freeze, they will be unable to take in any water, causing the plant to die. By wrapping plant pots in a Fleece Plant Jacket  you can protect roots from temperatures as low as -8°C.

Group potted plants together and wrap with bubble polythene or straw for additional plant frost protection. Cover them as a group with a Frost Protection Cover or even bury the containers themselves in the ground up to the rim to make the most of the natural soil temperature.

7. Harden Off any Veg for Winter Planting

When planting up vegetables over winter, such as leeks or brassicas that have been started off indoors with a heated propagator, ensure they are hardened off before planting. ‘Hardening off’ is the process of gradually acclimatising a plant to its growing environment to avoid it going into shock. As temperature decrease, this process must be carried out more gradually.

Find out more about hardening off with our Vitopod Heated Propagator here

8. Avoid Scorch Damage

Remember, it’s not just frost you need to look out for! Freezing winds quickly dry out plants and soil, causing scorch damage. Set up a windbreak using either mesh or gardening fleece to help keep trees and plants healthy. Don’t forget; plenty of mulch around their bases will also help retain soil moisture.

9. Don’t Feed Pests

Winter is a tough time for garden pests, but don’t let them ravage your plants in their quest for survival! Whilst snails will hibernate during the winter, slugs can still be found slithering around whenever the temperature is over 5°C. Organic slug pellets and Slug and Snail Shocka will repel slugs from plants by creating an abrasive barrier; so they will be forced to seek sustenance elsewhere!

10. Keep your Garden Debris Free

Keeping a garden tidy serves many purposes. Fallen debris, such as twigs, branches or dead leaves, can cause damp damage to underlying plants, so use ahandy leaf picker to move these to your compost heap. Should winds pick up, a tidy garden leaves fewer projectiles to be blown around, minimising the risk of damage to other plants.

If you have any tips or questions about winter frost protection, frost blankets or general garden care, feel free to call us on 0845 602 3774 or email us atinfo@greenhousesensation.co.uk. Our Gardening Angels are always happy to help and love to hear about your experience of winter growing!

Top Tips for Winter Plant Protection

With a little preparation and some frost protection essentials there’s no reason your plants can’t thrive this winter.


As shorter days & colder nights approach, take some time to prepare to protect your outdoor plants from the first frost. Try to move any smaller or potted plants to sheltered spots. A Frost Protection Jacket will also provide your plants with further protection.

Our specially designed plant frost jacket is made from extra thick material to protect against temperatures as low as -8°C, but still permeable enough by air, light and moisture to ensure healthy plant growth. The winter sun will warm the air inside the jacket, which will also retain any heat.

Protecting Larger Plants from Frost

For those of you growing fruit trees, palm trees or cordylines, Gardening Fleece, also known as a horticultural fleece, is a highly effective form of plant frost protection. Wrapping garden fleece around the crown and trunk is ideal for protecting it from the bitter winds and harsh cold whilst allowing the plant to absorb water and nutrients for healthy growth.


Without sufficient frost protection, the water inside your plants’ cells will freeze overnight, damaging the cell walls. When the sun rises in the morning, the suns warmth will quickly defrost the cells and risk rupturing the cell walls altogether. This can take its toll on your plants gradually, or the shock could rupture the cell walls instantly.

Top Frost Protection Tip!

Brick walls will help to shield your plants from the harsh winter winds and, more importantly, absorb heat during the day, releasing it overnight, providing further heating for any nearby plants; making this an ideal spot to relocate prized plants. For additional frost protection our Gardening Angels love this clever Wall mounted Greenhouse.

If possible, you should position your plants at a higher point in your garden as it will minimise damage from sinking cold air. Whilst hearty foliage will not need to be covered, should you experience any snowfall, try to keep as much snow as possible off the branches as the extra weight can cause damage over time.

Propagation During Winter

Provide seedlings with added protection from cold weather with a heated propagator, perfect for creating a frost free growing growing environment, encouraging your seedlings & young plants to flourish in a safe, temperature controlled miniature greenhouse.

If your using a Vitopod Heated Propagator, plan ahead and add add extra layers to this height adjustable propagator. Perfect for keeping mature, taller plants frost free over winter until outside temperatures begin to increase again and ideal for giving your plants extra room to grow!



If you would like to find out more about frost protection or propagation, feel free to give us a call on 0845 602 3774 or drop us an email at info@greenhousesensation.co.uk. Our Gardening Angels are always happy to help and we’d love to hear about how you get on this winter!

How to Choose a Plant Frost Protection Fleece

With winter just around the corner, it’s time to prepare for the inevitable frost. A gardening frost fleece, also known as horticultural fleece, will shelter your plants from the harsh weather, whilst still allowing air, water and light to reach the plant.

Our Gardening Angels have put together a few of their top tips to help you pick the right plant protection fleece for your trees and plants this winter.

Thickness of Fleece

Not all horticultural fleeces are created equal! Fleeces are available in various shapes and sizes, so you should always consider the thickness of your fleece.

Frost fleece thickness is measured in grams per square metre (GSM), with a higher GSM meaning a thicker fleece. The thicker the fleece, the more protection it will offer against lower temperatures. A thick frost fleece is also durable, so it will continue to be reusable for many years.

Size of Fleece

Our frost protection fleece jacket is ideal for protecting potted plants from temperatures as low as -8°C. You should first measure the size of the pot before choosing which jacket you need:

• For pots up to 40cm diameter: W70cm x H100cm frost jacket

• For pots up to 55cm diameter: W90cm x H150cm frost jacket

• For pots up to 70cm diameter: W110cm x H200cm frost jacket

A plant frost fleece blanket provides ideal protection for allotment growers, as it can be used to cover the ground and prevent frosting. Firstly, measure the space you are looking to cover. As you will just be laying the fleece down on top of the soil, it will not be taut, so always use a larger fleece than the area you are looking to cover and secure with fabric pegs.

For anyone looking to protect palms or cordylines, you will want to loosely wrap a thick frost fleece around the crown and trunk. Typically, one pack of plant frost protection fleece will provide adequate tree frost protection, however larger trees may require a second pack.


When protecting cordylines, you can also consider tying up leaves around the crown to provide further protection from the wind. The leaves will try to fan out, forcing the fleece to create a protected air pocket around the vulnerable crown.

For any other plants, such as shrubs, hanging baskets or specimen plants, use a Plant Fleece Protection Cover. These covers feature a zip down the side and drawstring opening, allowing you to quickly and easily cover groups of plants, even if they are in borders. Begin by grouping your plants together, then check which size of cover would be most beneficial for you.

• W70cm x H95cm - Medium Maxi-Fleece Protection Cover

• W120cm x H180cm - Large Maxi-Fleece Protection Cover

Remember, always use slightly larger fleeces or jackets than you require. By leaving a gap between your plants and the frost protection, you create an air pocket that provides an extra layer of insulation for your plants.

Which plants the fleece will protect

With the right frost protection for plants, you can help any plant through the winter months.

• A frost fleece blanket is perfect for any trees, soft fruit bushes, planters, vegetable patches or ground cover.

• For potted plants, a plant frost protection jacket will provide sufficient protection from frosts.

• For smaller plants in planters, such as strawberries, consider covering with a cloche and an additional layer of frost fleece to provide ever further support.

• A Plant Fleece Protection Cover is ideal for protecting any shrubs, hanging baskets, border plants or specimen plants.

You can always consider moving your wrapped plants to a greenhouse or mini greenhouse, as these work as an additional frost protector. Smaller plants and seedlings can also be moved to a heated propagator.

If you would like to find out more about what frost protection would be best for you, feel free to give us a call on 0845 602 3774 or drop us an email at info@greenhousesensation.co.uk.. Our Gardening Angels are always happy to help and we’d love to hear about how you get on this winter!

Protect your Garden from Strong Winds and Rain

When the strong winter winds and heavy rain bear down on your garden, there are a few steps that you can take protect your plants from the elements.

1. Protect your potted plants Move your potted plants to the safety of a greenhouse or, if this is not an option, move them close to walls or fences to minimise the risk of wind damage. Corners are particularly advisable as this will protect your plants from the wind on two fronts. You can further protect any potted plants with a frost protection jacket, or by moving them to a wall mounted greenhouse which will minimise the impact of the wind.

2. Put away any potential projectiles If you have any ornaments in your garden, you may want to consider putting them away to avoid the wind lifting them up and carrying them away. You may also want to consider temporarily tying down or storing away any freestanding birdhouses.

3. Protect your bedded plants The wind can dry out the ground around your bedded plants, so make sure the plants are well hydrated before the storm hits. You can also protect any bedded plants further by firmly embedding a cloche around the plants. To prevent the cloche blowing away, you will ideally want to embed them around 2 inches in the ground.

If you have any tips or questions about facing the adverse weather,feel free to call us on 0845 602 3774 or email us at info@greenhousesensation.co.uk. Our Gardening Angels are always happy to help

Hardening Off in a Propagator

Once your plants have made it through winter, the time will come when they must leave the safety of their heated propagators and moved to their final growing place .

Before moving plants out of your heated propagator, you will need to harden them off. “Hardening off” is the process of acclimatising your plants to live outside of a heated environment, encouraging them to develop stronger, waxier leaves that can cope with natural conditions outside the propagator. This must be carried out gradually to avoid your plants going into shock.

You can start hardening off your plants when night time temperatures reach 5°C; although the higher the temperature, the easier the process will be. If hardening off at 5°C, you still need to implement some additional protection such as a frost protection fleece. A frost protection gardening fleece will keep the plant safe from any sudden drops in temperature and will allow you to plant outside sooner.


The decision for when to harden off plants should be based on the time of sowing/planting rather than the development stage of your plant. Young plants are less likely to tolerate sudden changes in temperature, so these should be left a little longer. Typically, when your plant has developed its true leaves it will be ready for hardening off.

Plants grown in warmer environments, such as an Electric Heated Propagator, will need to be hardened off more gradually, as these are used to higher temperatures.

The duration of the hardening off process can vary depending on what you are growing. However this is the typical process for hardening off in an electric heated propagator:

Stage 1: Leave the lid off your propagator during the day

Recommended Duration: 7 days

Stage 2: Leave the lid off your propagator all the time

Recommended Duration: 7 days

Stage 3: Remove plants from the propagator (ideally move to greenhouse or mini greenhouse, or outside with plant frost protection)

Recommended Duration: 7 days

Stage 4: Transplant your plants in their final planter


In addition to these steps, it is important to consider the other changes that your plant will have to adapt to and how you can prepare them for this.

- Your plants will be experiencing greater levels of direct sunlight, so try to move your plant to a sunnier spot gradually throughout this process to lessen the shock.

- Aim to plant out on an overcast day as this will minimise the risk of your plants wilting.

- If planting outdoors, protect young plants from slugs with some organic slug pellets and keep hungry pests away.

Now your plants will be ready to grow and your Vitopod Propagator will be free for sowing your springtime seedlings!

If you have any questions about hardening off, or if you’d like to share any advice from your previous experience, feel free to call us on 0845 602 3774 or email us at info@greenhousesensation.co.uk. Our Gardening Angels are always happy to help!