A Note From Rick | June at Bridge Gardens
June 28, 2023
By Rick Bogusch
All that hard work you did in spring starts paying off in June, with harvests from vegetable gardens and a multitude of flowers.
We’ve been enjoying an abundance of leaf and head lettuce this year and are anticipating imminent harvests of peas, carrots, beets and summer squash.
Tomatoes, peppers and eggplants are planted and established, growing well and promise big yields next month and beyond.
June is also a peak time for both the Rose and Herb Gardens. Roses always look their best in June and this year is no exception. So, hurry to see them before this first flush fades with the onset of warmer weather.
The Herb Garden, too, is especially attractive right now. Valerian, foxgloves, poppies, chamomile and more are abundantly in flower. All are beautiful and all have interesting stories to tell.
We’re still starting seeds for the various gardens to keep them attractive and bountiful all season and we’ve started planting many trees, shrubs, wildflowers and grasses in our nursery.
New Jersey tea, a compact shrub with white flowers, is drought-resistant and native to Long Island in spite of its name. It will replace some ninebark, also native, that did not perform well in this dry site. We’re also adding blackhaw, a native viburnum, along with bayberry, and chokeberry, and dozens of little bluestem grasses and northern sea oats throughout the gardens.
As part of our edible landscaping program we are also adding hardy kiwi to the rose arbors behind the rose garden and more blackberries here and there.
Thornless blackberries have become a favorite at Bridge Gardens, because they are productive without a lot of input and also attractive in flower and habit. We’ll be featuring blackberries in our class on home fruit production later this season.
So, there’s lots to do, lots to plant and lots to see at Bridge Gardens! I look forward to your next visit.~~ Rick
Rick Bogusch
Garden Director, Bridge Gardens
rbogusch@peconiclandtrust.org