June offers the most hours of daylight of any month of the year! For gardeners, this is a great boon, allowing them to concentrate on their fields and flowers. Click here to see your own sunrise and sunset times. June is named for the Roman goddess Juno, patroness of marriage and women. Since ancient times, cultures have adopted June as the perfect time for revelry, weddings, and feasts.Know all of the months’ origins!
One old proverb says, “Calm weather in June sets corn in tune.” Like Goldilocks, gardeners hope for weather that is just right: not too hot, not too cold, not too wet, not too dry. Even the tenderest plants softies like basil and tomatoes are put in the ground in June. Folk wisdom tells us that plants will catch up by the end of the month regardless of how early we got them in the ground thanks to the long hours of sunshine.
When elm leaves are as big as a shilling,
Plant kidney beans, if to plant ’em you’re willing;
When elm leaves are as big as a penny,
You must plant kidney beans, if you mean to have any.
It is the month of June,
The month of leaves and roses,
When pleasant sights salute the eyes,
And pleasant scents, the noses.
O summer day, surpassing fair,
With hints of heaven in earth and air.
When the heat like a mist veil floats,
And poppies flame in the rye,
And the silver note in the streamlet’s throat
Has softened almost to a sigh.
In this month is St. Swithin’s Day;
On which, if that it rain, they say
Full forty days after it will,
Or more, or less, some rain distil.
Alex Infohub 