May has been an odd month for me.
It started with Bank Holidays and bad weather, rolled into superb, long, hot, dry days; then deteriorated back into storms and torrential rain in time for the Bank Holiday again…
Just as you think you’re caught up in gardening (working till 6 or 7 on the dry days) the Great British weather firmly re-establishes that it sets the time tables.
But we have a few things that need doing, if the weather permits;
- Keep planting out hardy perennials.
- Start moving out your Hot house plants; that’s to say tropical plants. Cover them at night, and bring them back in if there is any chance of a frost.
- Prick out and thin Winter Green seedlings.
- Sow sweet corn. Sow close together, in rows, in a warm, sheltered situation. Make sure if you live in The North, you choose a variety suitable -one with a short growing season.
- Try growing Chicory. It can be a little bitter, but it’s usable cooked and raw, so lends itself for stir fry.
- Plant tomatoes in an unheated greenhouse.
“Dust strawberries with sulphur…” and “spray pears with Bordeaux mix…” if they had any diseases last year is the standing instruction from Mr. Hellyer and 1936: Of the many chemicals now available, in many ways, in gardens, you will probably cause less damage to the environment using 70-year old advice than 21st century chemicals. Recent studies on bee colony collapse suggests fungicides make the colonies more prone to collapse.
- Clear beds for summer displays.
- Tidy daffodil leaves by tying them with elastic bands. Don’t remove them until the leaves have gone yellow.
- If you are growing Sweet peas as a cordon (straight up), you will need to pinch off side shoots.
- Sow runner beans out doors. Put in your canes or sticks, build a tepee or whatever type of frame you want to use, then plant 2 beans at the base of each pole.
- Plant out celeriac if you started any in March.
- Early, green Gooseberries may be ready to pick. These will only be cooking berries, but it gives you an early picking.
- Plant out bedding and half-hardy annuals.
- Plant up window boxes and hanging baskets.
- Sow marrows outdoors.
- Plant out French beans that have been hardened off.
- Thin out raspberry canes; cut off the canes that are growing in paths, or out of the line of the supports.
That covers us for May. There is plenty of work, we just need a bit more good weather.