Ask any native Washingtonian and they’ll tell you that “June Gloom” is a very real thing in our corner of the world. Unfortunately, this year’s June Gloom comes on the heels of Abundant April Showers and a Mostly Moist May, leaving weather forecasters with few friends. With summer just around the corner (one can hope!), June is a great time to work outside, ensuring a colorful, productive, and healthy garden all season. Here are a few tips to keep your garden going strong while we wait for sun.

First, June in the Pacific Northwest is a great time to plant, whether you’re still planting summer annuals, filling a few open spaces in your vegetable garden, or refreshing your landscaping with new shrubs and perennials. After a cold start to spring, our soil temperature is finally warm enough for plants to root out quickly, giving them a good start before summer heat hopefully arrives.

If you haven’t finished planting flowers around your yard, you’re not too late—most garden centers still have a nice selection of annuals perfect for adding color all summer and attracting pollinators like hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies. Flowers planted now will quickly catch up to those planted last month or earlier, thanks to bigger plant starts and long days to encourage rapid growth.

When picking out annuals, be sure to check out Calliope geraniums in stock at Vander Giessen’s, a newer hybrid variety that’s one of the best geraniums available for vigor, blooming, and hardiness. Long considered one of America’s favorite flowers, geraniums are great for gardeners of any skill level, and Calliope varieties will quickly fill out a pot or flowerbed with large green leaves and big, colorful flowers available in a wide selection of hues.

Second, now is the time of year to begin watching out for insect and disease issues in your garden, especially as the mild, wet weather persists. Aphids often feed on plant juices at the growing points, so  keep an eye out for deformed, crinkled leaves at the tips of branches or around flower buds on shrubs, annuals, and vegetables. In some cases, a hard spray of water may be enough to dislodge them, but I also recommend using a spray like neem oil or Bonide Rose Shield for a quick and thorough kill.

One common plant disease that shows up in June Gloom is powdery mildew, with its telltale gray film that coats plant leaves. Thriving in mild temperatures and high humidity, powdery mildew can weaken and ultimately kill plants, or at a minimum cause them to drop leaves and look unsightly. For shrubs susceptible to powdery mildew, treat every six weeks with a systemic to prevent mildew—two common products are BioAdvanced Rose & Flower Care and Bonide Rose Shield Drench. These systemic products will also prevent insect infestations without the need to spray.

Finally, June is the time to ensure that your lawn is ready for summer. If it’s been at least six weeks since you last fed your lawn, it may be time to feed again with an all-purpose lawn food like Scotts Turf Builder. Red thread, a common lawn fungus that shows up as faint pink patches in a lawn, can be eradicated easily with the nitrogen in lawn fertilizer, so instead of worrying about treating your lawn with a fungicide, if you see red thread, fertilize! Also, if mushrooms are beginning to show up in your lawn—another common early summer phenomenon—rest assured that they will typically run their course for the year in two to three weeks’ time, all the while helpfully breaking down organic matter underground and adding nutrients to your soil.

They say good things come to those who wait, so whether you’re a forecaster needing a friend, an outdoor enthusiast starved for Vitamin D, or simply a gardener who’s sick of kneeling in mud, summer weather will arrive eventually—and what a good thing that will be!