Late June Garden To-Do List
Juneteenth already? (And happy birthday, Mom!)
Late June is one of those times in the garden where everything is happening at once. Spring crops are finishing, summer crops are surging, and pests have officially shown up to the party. There's still plenty to do — just get out there early morning or after 8pm when the light is golden and the air is bearable.
Harvest
We’re moving from spring’s leafy greens into summer’s bold flavors. Keep harvesting to encourage production and enjoy the best flavors at their peak.
Cool-season crops: If you’re still holding onto cabbage, snap peas, or lettuce—harvest now. They’re almost done.
Carrots & onions: If carrot tops are poking above the soil, it’s time to pull. Thin onions by harvesting every other plant and enjoy them as fresh scallions.
Garlic: Your garlic might be ready too!
Potatoes: Dig carefully once the foliage starts to yellow and die back. Use your hands or a garden fork and treat each one like buried treasure — because it is. I’m making this potato salad for the third time this season. Love all the herbs in it!
Summer stars: Cucumbers, green beans, cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and shishito peppers are starting to roll in. Harvest young and often!
Blackberries: Check your canes daily. They go from almost-ripe to overripe fast, and the birds know it too.
Herbs & flowers: Snip basil and other herbs regularly to prevent flowering and keep new leaves coming. Same goes for flowers—cut bouquets and enjoy the beauty indoors. Ack! I’ve already seen basil wanting to flower. Stop it back even if you can’t use it right now. You’ll have tons of fresh leaves in a just a couple of weeks.
Keep Planting
Late June is still a great time for succession sowing and filling in empty spaces — and this year, with pest pressure showing up early, it's even more reason to keep seeds going.
Direct sow: Beans, cucumbers, cowpeas, summer squash.
Transplant: Peppers, okra, eggplant, and basil in any gaps left by spring crops.
Succession plant: Don't wait to see how your current cucumber or squash plants fare against beetles and borers. Sow another round now so you have backup plants coming up behind them. It's not pessimism, it's strategy.
Try this: Sow heat-tolerant greens in the shade of taller crops. 'Jericho' lettuce, amaranth, Malabar spinach, and arugula are all worth a try. Malabar spinach in particular loves the heat and will climb a trellis beautifully through the rest of summer.
Support & Prune
Vines and tall plants are taking off—help them grow strong and stay healthy.
Train vines: Weave cucumbers, pole beans, and melons onto trellises. Tie as needed.
Try squash staking: Some gardeners are experimenting with staking summer squash for airflow and visibility—worth a try!
Tomato care: The jungle is real, and late June is when you either get ahead of it or spend August fighting through a wall of foliage to find your tomatoes. Prune lower leaves below the fruit cluster for airflow, and pinch suckers regularly to keep plants manageable. Future you will be grateful.
Clean up: Remove yellow or damaged leaves to prevent disease and make room for healthy growth.
Feed: Long-season plants like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and melons need a boost of nutrients to keep them producing for months. Late June is a good time to add a side-dressing of a fertilizer like TomatoTone which has a lower percentage of nitrogen. Continue adding granular fertilizer monthly through summer. If plants are looking yellow, give them a quick boost with liquid fish fertilizer.
Pest & Disease Patrol
Pests have officially shown up to the party. Stay one step ahead with regular check-ins — early morning is the best time to catch them before they scatter.
Squash vine borers: Check for red eggs near stems and remove immediately. If you find frass at the base of a stem, do a little surgery — dig out the larvae with a knife or inject the stem with BT. Then plant a succession of squash seeds as backup.
Squash bugs: Look for clusters of copper-colored eggs on the undersides of leaves. Scrape them off before they hatch. Adults are fast — catch them early.
Cucumber beetles: Striped or spotted, both cause damage and both can spread bacterial wilt. Handpick into soapy water and keep succession seeds going. If a plant collapses suddenly despite adequate water, bacterial wilt is likely the culprit — pull it and replant.
Hornworms: Large, green, and surprisingly hard to spot. Look for dark frass on leaves as your first clue, then trace it back to the caterpillar. Handpick and drop in soapy water — or relocate them if you can stomach it.
Japanese beetles: Skip the traps (they attract more than they catch). Handpick into soapy water in the early morning when they're sluggish.
Less common, but we've spotted them this year: Colorado potato beetle larvae on eggplant, flea beetles making lacy Swiss cheese of young leaves, and leaf-footed bugs showing up on tomatoes. All worth learning to identify — which is exactly what the June Bug Bingo card is for.
Powdery mildew: Common on squash, zinnias, and bee balm this time of year. Remove infected leaves and avoid overhead watering.
Garden hygiene: Avoid handling plants when leaves are wet — from rain, dew, or irrigation — to reduce the spread of fungal disease. If you're pruning or harvesting, wait until leaves have dried. And if you spot diseased foliage, bag it and toss it rather than composting it.
Celebrate the good guys: Ladybugs, assassin bugs, parasitic wasps, jumping spiders, and fireflies are all out there working on your behalf right now. Before you reach for a spray, take a look at who else is already on the case — and check them off your bingo card while you're at it.
Squash bugs lay a cluster of eggs under leaves.
Ongoing Chores
Weed early and often: Weeds are growing just as fast as everything else right now. Don't let them get ahead of you — especially in pathways, where they can quickly become a jungle of their own and make it harder to move through the garden comfortably. A few minutes of weeding every visit beats an hour of catching up later.
Deadhead regularly: Spent blooms on zinnias, herbs going to flower, and other ornamentals need to be clipped back to keep production going. Deadheading signals the plant to keep producing rather than setting seed — which means more blooms, more herbs, and a tidier garden through the rest of summer.
Check ties and trellises: After wind or heavy rain, give your supports a once-over. A fallen trellis or a snapped tie can set a plant back fast.
Water & Weather Wisdom
Irrigation reality check: If your drip system or sprinklers are on a timer, now is the time to pay attention to whether that schedule actually matches what's happening outside. A few days of rain followed by a hot dry stretch can flip your garden's needs completely. Get in the habit of checking soil moisture regularly — stick your finger two inches into the soil near the root zone. If it's still damp, wait. If it's dry, water deeply. Irrigation is not a set-it-and-forget-it solution.
Heat wilt vs. drought wilt: Wilting midday is normal — plants protect themselves from peak heat by drooping temporarily. Wilting in the morning, before the heat builds, means your plants genuinely need water.
Drink some water yourself, while you’re at it! This is the rhythm of summer—steady, sweaty, and full of flavor. Take time to notice the daily changes, snack on a sun-warmed cherry tomato, and celebrate how far your garden has come. It doesn’t have to be perfect to be abundant. You’re doing great.
