• Make native plant species an integral part of your garden design. Viburnum species, for example, have a high ecological value because their early flowers serve as a food source for pollinators, their foliage hosts butterflies and moths, and their fall fruit are treasured by birds.

• Continue planting food crops. Don’t fret if your garden isn’t completely planted by the first of June. Follow the suggested planting dates listed in the last column in this chart.

• Apply mulch to minimize weed pressure and conserve moisture. Start with a layer of newspaper, cardboard or all those paper grocery bags you’re suddenly accumulating, then cover with an organic material such as bark, wood chips, pine needles or straw.

• Protect crops from insect pests. Immediately cover all brassicas and cucurbits to protect from flea beetles and cucumber beetles (respectively). Once both male and female flowers are present on cucurbits, remove row cover to allow pollinators to work their magic. Most brassicas can be left under a lightweight row cover all season long for insect protection. Be sure to lift the row cover occasionally to pull weeds.

• Support plants before they get too big. Peas, tomatoes, and beans will quickly get hard to wrangle if left unsupported for too long. Learn more about staking, trellising, basket weaving, and caging tomatoes. Many cut flowers benefit from being supported as well.

• Prepare for Japanese beetles. These well-known insects usually show up in Maine between the last week of June and the first week of July. Remove beetles daily (best in the morning) by knocking them into a bucket of slightly soapy water. Bagged pheromone traps, if poorly placed or left unmanaged, can potentially increase beetle populations by attracting beetles to your yard.

• Establish a container garden. Countless vegetables and herbs grow very well in containers. The aesthetic possibilities are endless when adding flowers and ornamental foliage plants.

• Install drip irrigation. Adding drip irrigation will save time and increase yield.

• Label your plants with the variety and date planted. Labels will help you avoid mixing up your hot peppers with your sweet peppers or letting your pickling cucumbers grow too large thinking they’re a slicing cuke.

• Gather food preservation supplies and start researching the best method to preserve the bounty you’ll gather from your garden and the farmers’ market.

• Start a compost pile. Not only is compost good for building soil structure, it reduces the amount of materials directed into the waste stream.

• Connect with a UMaine Extension gardening expert in real time five days a week during our virtual office hours (M-F, 11-1).

• Cover areas to prepare new in-ground garden spaces. Generally, the longer you leave an area covered, the more likely you’ll kill off problematic perennial weeds. Opaque plastics, cardboard or a thick layer of newspaper can all work well. All require anchoring. Landscape pins work well for keeping the plastic in place and good options for anchoring cardboard and newspaper include bark mulch, wood chips, straw or shredded leaves. If you don’t want to leave it all season, consider keeping it on until early July. At that point in the season, you can still plant beans, carrots, beets, broccoli, cabbage, leafy greens, and a variety of herbs.

• Support Maine food producers when you can. Check the Maine Farm and Seafood Products Directory and Maine Federation of Farmers' Markets webpage for updates.

• Record and appreciate the work you’ve done. Spring and summer come and go so quickly, that it can be challenging to remember all you’ve accomplished, as well as the challenges you’ve overcome. Gardens begin to thrive in June, and there can be lots of intense work leading up to that point. Starting a garden journal can help you keep track of what’s new, what’s been moved/removed, or adjusted, and can provide easily-forgotten details to guide your decisions in subsequent seasons. And, most important of all, make time to sit or take a contemplative walk around your yard and gardens. You’ve put time, effort, and energy into your creation, so now enjoy!