Peter’s Gardening tips for May 2023
It’s been the coldest and wettest spring since 1981 so let’s look at how to make the most of your garden after such a soggy start to the season.
As the weather starts to warm up, it’s the perfect time to get back into the garden and start preparing for the summer months ahead. The wet weather in the spring can present some challenges for gardeners, but with the right approach, you can turn it to your advantage and create a vibrant and healthy outdoor space. So let’s get started and make your garden bloom!
From 1–7 May 2023 it’s National Gardening week and the theme this year is ‘create your coronation container’ to celebrate His Majesty King Charles III and his love of horticulture.
The King is known as a champion of the environment and a supporter of the nation’s passion for gardening, so you may want to join in this jubilant planting scheme to mark the beginning of his reign.
It is a very busy time now in the gardening calendar, so time for a dose of Vitamin G’…
Jobs to tackle this month
Indoor Sowing
This is the month to sow sweetcorn, squash, courgettes, runner and climbing beans. Also, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and kale for the autumn, sow in modules indoors to bring them on before planting out. This brings them on quicker and less chance of mice or voles eating the seeds or seedlings, and also better germination success.
Use a good quality seed compost such as Seed & Potting or John Innes Seed Sowing Compost. Either sow into pots, seed trays/inserts or direct in the ground.
In these classes, I share my favourite varieties of peas, beans and lettuce with you, and explain how to sow seeds to get a bumper crop.
2: How to grow lettuce from seed
3: How to grow peas and beans from seed
Watch more gardening video tutorials on the Silversurfers YouTube channel
Hardening off Plants
It is important to gradually acclimatise tender vegetable and bedding plants grown indoors to outdoor conditions. Put out in the day and bring in at night, unless you have a cold frame.
Feeding & Watering
Now is when plants need extra feeding when all their new growth is happening and to encourage more flowers and fruit. Use a liquid feed such as Vitax Q4 All-Purpose liquid, which has added seaweed and trace elements.
Rhododendrons, camellias and azaleas use Vitax Liquid Ericaceous Feed to help with flowering and promote good growth after flowering.
Roses are very hungry plants. Either feed with a granular fertiliser such as Rose Food.
Vegetables use Growmore, 6X Pelleted Chicken Manure, both contain nutrients which will help your flowers and crops grow.
Top tip – Make sure you apply fertiliser evenly and read the label properly. I’ve seen many plants scorched by being over-zealous or heavy-handed. Wash off any dry fertiliser that lands on leaves, if left on this will scorch them!
Pruning
This Hypericum Hidcote, commonly known as St Johns Wort, gets a hard prune to recover from frostburn after a harsh winter.
Any trees, shrubs and climbers that have already finished flowering can be pruned by a third, if you feel they have got too big, or to reshape. These may include Forsythia, Clematis alpina or armandii and Camellias.
Composting
There is a huge interest in composting. The best compost is made from 50% green matter (grass, veg, peelings) to 50% brown matter (shredded prunings, leaves, straw, newspaper, cardboard). Mix thoroughly so you don’t have soggy layers of smelly grass and keep moist. Cover with old carpet to exclude light and to encourage heat.
Old wooden pallets make good compost bins and you can add a Compost Maker to accelerate and increase the breakdown of the matter.
Lawns:
Tempting as it is to cut the lawn short, keep your grass longer. Longer grass will stand up to drought and higher temperatures and take more wear and tear. You will also get more clover flowering which helps feed the grass.
Now is a good time to aerate if the ground isn’t too hard, with a fork for a small lawn or large areas do a bit at a time! This can be done by pushing the fork into the ground with your foot and gently pulling back on the handle, without breaking the handle! The ground will lift a bit and crack the surface, improving drainage and critically getting more air to the roots of the grass. It’s a good workout too!
Another option is ‘No Mow May’ which encourages any wildflowers to grow and flower. Enjoy the butterflies & bees who benefit from the longer-looking grass – you could mow a snakey path through for a meadow effect.
Other jobs:
- Tie in climbers, clematis, jasmine and roses etc. Put in plant supports for herbaceous plants, especially peonies.
- Weeds need regular hoeing. A dry, sunny day works well.
- Watch out for late frosts they can do a lot of damage – keep fleece handy.
- Put up Vitax Apple & Plum traps.
- Repot plants into new compost. John Innes No 3 for mature shrubs/herbaceous, Ericaceous Compost with John Innes for camellias, rhododendrons and azaleas.
- Feed box hedging with Buxus fertiliser and keep an eye out for Box tree moth caterpillar.
- Now is the time to spray on or paint on Greenhouse Shading to provide some shade in the greenhouse during the bright spring and summer months.
- Plant out Sweet Peas.
- Deadhead daffodils and tulips, lift and divide if not flowering. Feed with Bone meal or Growmore, thoroughly water afterwards and allow to die back naturally. Only remove old leaves when brown and withered.
- Slugs Biological control of slugs, use Nemaslug. This will set you up for the invasion to come, keep an eye out.
- Top tip Apply Nemaslug to moist ground for better control.
- Do not be tempted to cut back hedges or evergreen shrubs until August, due to nesting birds or please check beforehand.
Clematis Montana
Flowers:
Still a great month for sowing any annuals or perennials. Keep watered if we have a dry spell until germinated at least.
Dahlia Tubers – Time to check and pot up into fresh compost. Any soft or rotten tubers need to be cut off and thrown away, water and place in the greenhouse or a light windowsill.
Begonia Tubers – These can be started up again. A tip I was given years ago is to place the corm on fresh damp compost upside down, convex upwards! Leave like this for 2 weeks, and when you lift off the corm and look at the concave side there should be several buds – 3 or more. Now you can plant them the right way up as usual, do let me know how you get on.
Garden Lillies – If you want scent go for the oriental and longiflorum types. Great for summer colour, and plant in containers a handful of gravel under each bulb. John Innes/multi-purpose mix again, placing it 6” down in the plot or plant in the ground again with gravel or coarse grit under the bulb. Water and feed plants in containers, and any newly planted plants.
I have never seen such productive allotments and gardens. Please do leave a scruffy area for the wildlife, hedgehogs breed in May. Frogs, toads and the good guys love to hide in long grass. A bare patch of sunny ground is perfect to sow wildflower seeds to encourage bees and the patch is also beneficial for insects and butterflies.
Keep bird feeders clean and topped up if you can, and birdbaths with fresh water. The antics of birds in a large plant saucer or dustbin lid are very entertaining to watch!
Stay safe and well. Enjoy the spring season and use your senses, listen to the birdsong and identify what you are listening to. I heard my first cuckoo yesterday and the swallows have returned. You may be surprised to see what you have in and around your neighbourhood.
Did you know that Gardening more frequently may be linked to improvements in wellbeing, perceived stress, and physical activity?
Happy Gardening!
Peter
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