May is starting warm – let’s hope it continues through the month.
Fruit and veg
- Earth up potatoes, covering the shoots with soil as they appear
- Sow sweetcorn in deep pots, so the young plants are ready to transplant into the garden in June
- Reduce snail populations by going on regular evening hunts, especially during damp weather
- Start sowing dwarf and climbing French beans, as well as runner beans, directly outdoors in warm weather
- Pick rhubarb stems as they develop, and water plants with liquid fee
- Start hardening off tender young plants, such as tomatoes and courgettes, ready for planting out in mild areas
- Sow batches of salad leaves and stir-fry crops every few weeks to provide continuous pickings
- Hang pheromone traps in apple and plum trees from May to July, to control pests
- Thin out seedlings, like carrots, from earlier sowings to ensure you get healthy, strong-growing plants
- Open fruit cage doors or lift some of the netting to ensure pollinating insects can get access to the flowers
- Remove all strawberry runners, so plants put their full energy into fruiting
Flowers
- Prune spring shrubs, such as forsythia and chaenomeles, after flowering to keep them compact
- Plant out dahlia tubers and cannas after all risk of frost has passed
- Tie in the new shoots of climbing plants, including clematis, wisteria and honeysuckle, to their supports
- Continue sowing annuals, such as California poppies, into gaps in borders for colour from August into autumn
- Plant up hanging baskets, but keep in a greenhouse or porch for a few weeks to establish, before putting outside
- Apply liquid feed to tulips, daffodils and other spring bulbs to encourage a good display next year
- Plant out summer bedding and tender annuals, including sunflowers, cosmos and nasturtiums, after the last frost
- Remove faded spring bedding, such as wallflowers and forget-me-nots, and add to your compost bin
- Check lilies and fritillaries for scarlet lily beetles and their larvae, as they can rapidly strip plants of all foliage
- Harden off tender plants raised indoors, but bring them back in at night to protect from late frosts
- Pinch out the shoot tips of bedding plants and young annuals, such as fuchsias, to encourage bushier growth
- Add interest to shady borders by planting a selection of hostas and ferns
