Californian Poppy
IT’S SHOW TIME IN THE GARDEN
May is the month when everything gets busy in the garden. The RHS Chelsea Flower Show (19-23 May) gets the flower show season off to a start and can be a great source of inspiration for both experienced and novice gardeners.
One of simplest starter ideas for anyone new to gardening is to create a herb garden. From sage to thyme, rosemary to clipped bay and flowering chives, you can combine a variety of herbs in one space that will produce long-lasting displays as well as regular pickings for the kitchen. Successful herb garden designs often define the space using brick pavers, dividing-up the area with small paths to provide easy access for picking, but for small spaces herbs can also be grown in pots. Low-growing thyme is a herb garden favourite, perfect for making a herb carpet or filling gaps between paving. Mint is a versatile herb but best kept contained to prevent it invading borders and flowerbeds, so grow it in a pot or large bottomless bucket. Rosemary is a hardy shrub with aromatic leaves and has a long flowering season, and chives provide an ornamental floral display to any border or planter.
As many herbs have Mediterranean origins they like being in the sun, so the timing is perfect as May sees more sunshine and longer days – which means more time for gardening! Another sun loving plant, that you can sow direct into the ground at this time of year, is the Californian poppy. Simply sprinkle seeds thinly and evenly over a well-raked patch of damp soil where they are going to flower, in full sun. Use a small hand rake to gently work the seeds into the soil and keep an eye out for seedlings in 7-10 days. Once they are big enough to handle, thin them out to leave a plant every 15cm.
For fruit and veg growers, you can plant out tomatoes, courgettes and pumpkins that were sown under cover once all risk of frost has passed and they have been hardened off. Don’t forget to stake pea plants as they grow and it’s also a good time to thin out raspberries by removing suckers or seedlings before they get so big you have to dig them out. Pot crops need to be fed and watered and acid-loving fruits such as blueberries and cranberries should be watered with collected rainwater. To make sure you have a continuous supply of summer crops, sow small batches of beetroot, lettuce, radish and spring onion seeds every couple of weeks.
If there is one job to be done this month it’s to …give your perennials the Chelsea chop. So called, because it’s done around the time of RHS Chelsea Flower Show. It works best with herbaceous perennials that are naturally branching such as echinacea, sedum, phlox, penstemon and salvia. By cutting them back now it will extend their flowering season, encourage compact growth and reduce the need for staking. Simply cut back stems by a third using shears or secateurs.
Some of the other garden jobs for May suggested by the RHS are:
- Watch out for late frosts and protect tender plants
- Earth up potatoes and plant any still remaining
- Plant out summer bedding plants at the end of the month, weather permitting
- Water early and late to get the most out of your water, recycle water if possible
- Hoe off weeds in vegetable patches
- Open greenhouse vents and doors on warm days
- Mow lawns but consider leaving some areas uncut for wildlife, or mow less often so flowers can bloom
- Check carefully for nesting birds before clipping hedges
- Lift and divide overcrowded clumps of daffodils and other spring bulbs
- Watch out for viburnum beetle and lily beetle grubs and remove by hand if causing damage
