Country Living Gardening Editor Paula McWaters shares her top tips on what we need to do in the garden every month. In May, with the extended Bank Holiday weekend ahead of us, it’s all about pots, tomatoes and the clematis…
In the garden
- Liquid feed young plants regularly to keep them growing strongly
- Sow half-hardy annual seeds outdoors where they are to flower
- Tidy up Clematis montana once it has finished flowering
- Clear pots and containers to make way for summer displays
- Prune spring-flowering shrubs once they have finished flowering
In the greenhouse
- Introduce biological controls at the first sign of problems
- Move tender plants out of the greenhouse once the risk of frost has passed
- Pot on seedlings as soon as they are big enough to handle
- Sow French beans in individual pots for planting out next month
- Take softwood cuttings of herbs
On the allotment/vegetable garden
- Plant out tender vegetables once the frosts have passed
- Tie in tomatoes and keep liquid feeding them
- Put straw under strawberries to prevent young fruit rotting
- Sow sweetcorn in blocks to aid pollination and sow root vegetables
- Earth up potatoes once growth reaches about 25cm
- Plant out dahlias at the end of the month
BY
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash