What’s Growing in My Garden in June?

Some gardeners wait until there’s no more threat of cold snaps to plant in the spring, but there’s actually a lot you can grow before your final frost date clears so that, come June, your garden is an eye-catching oasis bursting with green. I planted my garden in the last week of March, even though the last frost date in Chicago is not until May, and I have already been able to harvest so much. Keep reading to discover all the delicious goodness I’ve got sprouting in June.

Pollinator Garden

My pollinator garden has become so lush that it blocks my view of my raised beds! I have some lovely perennial plants—anise hyssop, echinacea, yarrow, and mountain mint (native to Chicago)—that came back on their own after winter. I haven’t done a thing to them except keep the bed watered, yet they're either already blooming or about to burst with flowers that will attract all kinds of beneficial bees and butterflies. My ever-fragrant lemon balm is filling in so quickly that I’ll have trouble seeing my garden path soon, and my tansy has become more of a tree.

Also mixed between my flowers are some types of native grass and an herb called feverfew. These have also come back after winter on their own. That’s the beauty of growing native plants and perennials that like your particular climate—very little upkeep. 

It may surprise you to learn that I’ve been growing some broccoli and potatoes in the ground this year. I decided to keep them out of my beds because they’re so big and, in the case of the potatoes, like different soil conditions than my leafy greens. The broccoli is starting to form a nice little crown, and the potatoes are showing some green leaves.

Raised Beds

June in Chicago means we’re moving from the cool season into the warm season, so I need to harvest from the greens galore that are growing in these beds but starting to get stressed by the heat and their tight quarters. I’ve got Red Russian kale and dinosaur kale (or Toscano kale) that I’ve been harvesting from for weeks. The radishes are starting to bolt with the warm weather and are past-due for being picked. My chives have flowered, so I can either toss the blossoms into a salad or make chive vinegar. I have about 20 heads of cabbage ready to harvest. My spinach and cilantro plants, as well as the lettuce mix, are about to bolt and need to be harvested.

I recently tucked in some warm season plants but regretted it when we had a late-season cold snap. While my peppers, eggplants, and tomatoes do have some visible frost damage, I find overall that my cool season plants insulate the roots of my warm season babies as they settle into their new home, like a little blanket of plants. 

My peas have been slow this season, but they’re ready now for some twine to attach them to the trellis. My goal every year is to have them finish up just as my tomatoes need the trellis for support. I like gardening a little unconventionally, but it does mean that there’s a bit of crowding in my garden during the transition from cool to warm season.

I added in six cucumber plants down the center of two beds recently, so that means I’ll need to move my obelisk trellises here to lend them support. My carrots are coming along, and once I remove all of my lettuce plants, they'll have more room. I also added some ground cherries and nasturtiums, which will hopefully bloom soon.  

Gardening in between the seasons can be hard sometimes, but I encourage you to just keep going! Don’t worry about your losses. Every gardener takes some hits, but we come back year after year to grow our own delicious greens and gorgeous blossoms. Happy gardening, my friends!