Caring for your garden lawn in June

The longest of days and the brightest of sunshine make June a delightful month in which to enjoy strong plant growth and colourful flowers. The danger of frost is a thing of the past and it’s safe to plant outside all manner of exotic summer bedding and tender fruit and vegetables.

While weeds can be dug out of flower borders, it's next to impossible to dig out dandelions, clover and creeping trefoil without making a real mess of the lawn. Clean out weeds from a summer lawn with a special selective weed killer that can kill broadleaved weeds without doing any harm whatsoever to the grass.

Depending on conditions which have been very dry recently adjust your mowing:

• Keep the cut on the high side if growth is slow due to dryness
• Lower the cut again when growth picks up

By adopting this cutting regime you can mow to preserve moisture, which is beneficial because:

• Grass is 85% water – removing grass therefore removes water
• Long grass creates a barrier between dry sun and wind and moist soil
• Long grass keeps the soil cool
• Long grass traps more dew and with low night time temperatures at present there are heavy dews about giving the lawn a daily drink