June is a rather bleak time of year for gardeners in most regions. Take time to plan and catch up on some maintenance work like painting garden furniture and pots, fixing or laying new paving, and repairing fences, water features, pergolas and trellises.

Consider planting camellias, which are in full flower now. They can be planted in containers. Nurseries and garden centres stock a wide variety from which to choose. Other evergreen shrubs to consider are coprosmas, They need an acidic soil.hollies, laurels, Berberis, Julianea, abelias, conifers ayzygiums.

Continue mulching trees, shrubs, and climbers to help protect their roots against cold damage.

Water clivias sparingly during winter to induce better flowering.
Get your pruning equiptment ready by making sure that the blades are sharp and clean. Sharp tools will ensure cleans cuts the will heal quickly.

Summer flowering shrubs like the pride of India and hydrangeas can be pruned now. Cut them back to two strong side shoots.
Do not feed any deciduous trees, shrubs or climbers until they show signs of new life.

Water azaleas, camellias, magnolias and all shrubs from the winter-rainfall at least once a week. Water in the morning when the hose has thawed; this will also leaves to dry and the soil to warm up a little before nightfall.

Do not start pruning roses too soon; rather wait until the end of July to avoid frost burn on new growth.

Remember to remove spent or faded flowers from annuals like poppies, violas and pansies regularly to encourage them to keep flowering.

Tie sweet peas to their stakes and feed regularly with liquid fertilizer. Pick the first flowers to encourage plants to produce more flowers.

Water bulbs well to keep the roots moist and feed fortnightly with liquid fertilizer.
Feed winter annuals with liquid fertilizer once every fortnight;
Look out for aphids on the new shoots and buds of bulb, and for rust on calendulas and pelargoniums.

Indoor pots plants are dominant in the winter and need to be watered less often.
Remember to use less tepid water when watering indoor plants as they will resent being watered with ice-cold water.

If flowering pot plants like African violets are kept on a windowsill but are too close to the windowpane, they can easily burn from the cold. Cyclamens, on the other hand, prefer a cold position.

June is a good time to plant bare rooted fruit trees as they will still have time to establish their roots before the soil temperature cools down too much for active growth. Remember not to leave the roots exposed to the sun; put the trees in water until they are ready to be planted. Plant the trees so that the bud union is above soil level. Make a shallow basin around each point to facilitate watering.

Prepare beds by digging in lots of compost, well-rotted kraal manure and a general fertilizer like 2:3:2 before planting permanent crops like globe artichokes, asparagus, horseradish, chives and rhubarb.

Cut down on watering pot plants as they need less water during winter.

Remember that heaters will dry out the atmosphere. The foliage of indoor plants in the room will need to sprayed with a fine mist of water to help raise the humidity.