By Richard Zondag

( SPONSORED CONTENT)— As the calendar turns to June, it’ s time to shift your focus from spring planting to essential garden maintenance.

These tips will help you create a yard and garden to provide your family with fresh produce and gorgeous blooms you can enjoy all season long.

Maintain Your Plant Journal

You’ ve already recorded planting dates, transplanting dates and the varieties you planted. As the season progresses, note aspects such as disease and pest concerns, abnormal weather conditions( like excessive rain or drought), whether your plants matured timely during the growing season and crop yields. Document both successes and challenges so that necessary adjustments can be made for the next growing season.

Keep Your Plants Watered

Water is essential for plants to grow and mature, but too much can be detrimental. Whether you use a watering can, garden hose, sprinkler or trickle irrigation system, water thoroughly to avoid daily watering, but not so much that the soil stays constantly saturated. Adding a layer of mulch around plants helps effectively maintain soil moisture in dry conditions or when planting in sandy soil.

Make Timely Fertilizer Applications

The type of fertilizer your plants need depends on their stage of growth. Understanding the NPK ratio

is key. The first number, nitrogen( N), promotes foliage growth. The second number, phosphorus( P), promotes strong root development and fruit and flower production. The third number, potassium( K), supports water and nutrient movement within the plant and aids in maintaining plant vigor. For example, a high-nitrogen fertilizer should be used early in the season to get plants off to a strong start, but not later as it will encourage plants to keep growing larger while sacrificing fruit and flower production. If you are unsure of when or what to apply, the experts at your local garden center can help you create an effective fertilizer plan for your garden.

Keep Up With Weeding

Weeds compete with vegetable plants and flowers for water, sunlight and soil nutrients. If left uncontrolled, harvest yields and blooms will suffer. Applying mulch or compost around plants and between the rows will help with weed pressure.

Monitor Your Plants for Pest and Disease Issues

Gardens need consistent attention during the growing season. That way, issues can be addressed promptly before causing extensive plant damage. Garden center experts and online resources are excellent tools for troubleshooting these issues.

Deadhead Annual and Perennial Flowers

Removing spent flowers and damaged foliage will keep your plants looking their best. Deadheading also encourages perennials to produce new growth, extending the blooming season.

Harvest at the Correct Time

Monitor your garden plants closely during fruit development to ensure you harvest the fruits at peak quality. Harvesting too early or too late will affect flavor and storage capability.

Implement Succession Planting to Keep Your Garden Productive

Planting smaller amounts of the same variety at regular intervals or planting multiple varieties of the same

vegetable with differing maturity dates will allow you to harvest a steady supply of produce throughout the growing season rather than one large, concentrated harvest.

Maximize Your Space With Summer Planting for Fall Harvest

You can extend the growing season even further by planting a second crop of cool-season vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, beets and radishes and shorter-maturing warm-season crops like beans, cucumbers and zucchini in late June or early July and harvesting them into fall. Some crops, like carrots and winter radishes, can be planted in summer and harvested into the winter, provided they are mulched to insulate the soil and keep it from freezing completely.

Compost Leaves and Kitchen Scraps

Quality soil is key to creating a productive garden. Organic matter, such as compost, adds texture and increases nutrientholding capacity, which benefits all soil types. Kitchen scraps, grass clippings and leaves make great compost.

Follow these tips, and you will be on your way to harvesting fresh, homegrown produce and flowers right from your backyard.

About the Author:

Richard Zondag is a horticulturist, master gardener and the owner of Jung Seed Co.