Jobs For Your Garden in May
This is probably the best month in the gardening calendar, so get out there and make the most of it. For gardeners it’s when the leaves are fresh and green and spring is at its richest. All you need is a range of plants that will give you their best in this most generous of months.
Jobs for the garden
- Start planting up hanging baskets and containers but bring back inside if frost is likely; plant out summer bedding at the end of the month
- Earth up potatoes, draw the soil over the plants as this prevents sunlight getting to the tubers, which turns them green and renders them poisonous.
- Regularly hoe off weeds, they have loved the wet weather so get rid of them as soon as possible. Mulch around newly planted trees and shrubs to reduce weeds and retain moisture
- Water early and late to get the most out of your water, recycle water when possible
- Spray roses with fungicide to ward against black spot and mildew. Repeat every fortnight until the autumn. Feed with a foliar feed and beware greenfly – treat immediately if an infestation occurs.
- Open greenhouse vents and doors on warm days to avoid plants getting burnt.
- Begin to cut the grass regularly and fill in any bare spots by slightly loosening the surface of the soil and sow a good quality lawn seed over the area evenly
- Give some of your border perennials the ‘Chelsea Chop’. If you cut some of them back by about half now it will delay flowering but extend the display longer in your garden. And you can try propagating the cuttings for new plants.
- Check for nesting birds before clipping hedges
- Lift and divide overcrowded clumps of daffodils and other spring-flowering bulbs.
Plant of the Moment – HERBS
Herbs are valued as much for their ornamental appeal as their usefulness. There are many
interesting culinary, medicinal and ornamental varieties available, from sage to thyme, rosemary to
clipped bay and flowering chives; herbs can produce long-lasting displays as well as regular pickings
for the kitchen. Many are hardy shrubs like. Rosemary, lavender, bay and sage or perennial
varieties such as mint and fennel that will grow back again year after year, while others (like coriander and
basil) are annual herbs that will not survive winter outside, so new plants will be needed each year. Herbs canbe grown in pots (especially mint which spreads profusely), in herb gardens, as a useful ground cover plant (thyme or chamomile) or included simply in the flower border. Although many herbs are of Mediterranean origin and relish hot dry conditions, to get the best from herbs in pots most require regular watering to prevent their compost drying out completely.
Adapted from an original article by Gill Gallon
If you would like your business featured in an online editorial Get In Touch
