June To-Do List

June offers so many flowers that I keep a bouquet on my desk at all times. The kitchen windowsill sprouts single bloom stems tucked into tiny bottles. — Julie Martens/Frostburg, Maryland

By mid-month, I add stakes to every plant in the vegetable garden that might need them, including tomatoes, peppers and Brussels sprouts. My garden is in a windy spot, so I stake anything that gets any size to it.—Julie Martens

If tent worm caterpillar nests appear in the crabapple tree, I cut them down and bury them or stash them in a trash bag to put out with the trash. Burning isn’t necessary, but I’ll concede that it is fun.—Julie Martens

In the raspberry patch, I watch for wilted stem tips with the double girdling beneath that tells me raspberry cane borers have arrived. The solution is simple: Cut stems about an inch below the lowest girdling mark. Destroy the stem tips, which contain borers.—Julie Martens