MAY

ESSENTIAL JOBS CHECKLIST FOR MAY

Mow your lawn regularly, feed it, and treat weeds and moss
Create new lawns with seed or turves
Clip fast-growing hedges and feed them
Fix supports around tall perennials
Pot on summer bedding and harden it off
Plant up hanging baskets but keep them in a greenhouse
Feed roses and spray them where pests and diseases are a problem
Trim spring-flowering rock plants
Start to plant grow-bags
Sow biennials, annual flowers, herbs and vegetables
Feed fruit

TOPICAL TIPS FOR MAY

Flower Garden

A wide range of ready-made supports are available in garden centres now, or you can use Fix supports around tall and floppy perennials before they get too tall.
Biennials are plants that are sown one year to flower the next. Examples include Wallflowers, Canterbury Bells, Sweet Williams, Forget-me-nots, Foxgloves and Honesty. Seeds of all these plants should be sown this month. You can sow them out of doors in a well-prepared seed bed before transplanting to their final flowering position in the autumn.
If you've been growing your own summer bedding the young plants should be ready now for hardening off – in other words acclimatising them to a life outdoors after being coddled under glass. To start with put the young plants out in the daytime only. Towards the end of the month they can be left out all the time. Remember that Westland compost contains enough feed to last for 6-8 weeks. After that time is up you'll need to start with a liquid feed.
You can start to plant up hanging baskets and other summer containers, but if you can keep them in a greenhouse or porch for a couple of weeks before putting them out this will help them get established. Choose Westland Hanging Basket and Container Compost, which contains water storing granules to increase the water-holding capacity. You'll need to start feeding your baskets and tubs after 4-6 weeks with a good Scott ’ s feeding product. Alternatively, use a slow release plant food as you plant up the containers. This feed will last for the whole growing season.

Going Green

Try not to waste anything in your garden put all annual weeds onto the compost bin as well as household waste, never place any meat products here as this will attract rodents.
If pests become a problem we carry a range of Organic products which will help combat attacks.

Roses

Keep a close eye on your roses and spray at the first sign of pests or disease. When buying new roses you may prefer to choose some of the newest hybrids bred for their resistance to pests and diseases

Lawn

If you applied your first lawn weed early you should feed again towards the end of the month with one of Scott ’ s spring and Summer Lawn Food.
Persistent weeds such as dandelion and daisy may need treated with a spot weed such as Verdone.

In The Greenhouse

Fuchsias and Pelargoniums should be growing strongly now. Fuchsias should be pinched out once they reach about five inches (12.5 cm) high. This will help make them bushy and far more flowers will be produced.
Grow-bags are an easy way to grow a wide range of tender vegetables, including tomatoes, cucumbers, aubergines, peppers and even melons. Bring the bags into the greenhouse a weeks or so before planting into them – this will give the compost time to warm up first.

Containers

Summer containers can be planted up this month. If you don't have a greenhouse or porch to keep them away from late frosts, just make sure you listen to the weather forecast and cover the containers with fleece if necessary.

Vegetable Garden

Be ready to cover potatoes if frost is forecast
Sow outdoor marrows and courgettes at the end of the month. Start preparing the planting site at the beginning of the month by digging holes one foot deep and wide, about three feet apart. Dig plenty of Farmyard Manure into each hole then mound the earth up over the manure.
Runner beans can be sown in the second half of the month on a site prepared earlier.
In warmer parts of the country why not try sweetcorn – it should be sown at the end of the month.

Herb Garden

Take cuttings of rosemary, sage and thyme from the previous year ’ s growth. Take off the lower leaves of the cuttings and put them round the edge of a pot filled either with Perlite or Sharp Sand.
If you haven't got a space for a herb garden, many herbs can be successfully grown in containers. Chives, mint and parsley enjoy quite a rich soil and would be better in Westland John Innes No. 2. For marjoram, thyme, sage, hyssop, rosemary and lavender. Annual herbs such as coriander and chervil can be grown in the same mixture or in multi-purpose compost.

Fruit Garden

Apply a general plant food around fruit trees unless they have failed to set much fruit. Young trees may still need watering in dry weather
Gooseberry and blackcurrant bushes can also be fed
Start spraying regularly to prevent attacks of pest and disease.

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