Woah! I can’t believe we are a third of the way through May already. It’s been so long since I’ve written anything here, I couldn’t even remember my website’s log-in details. I’ve been pretty busy - mainly keeping the weeds at bay - but there are some other things that need doing too:
Staking herbaceous perennials
Some plants, like Delphiniums (and later, sunflowers), have brittle stems that snap easily, and need supporting as they grow taller to protect them against wind damage or collapsing under the weight of their own blooms. Even shorter perennials, such as oriental poppies need staking, especially if they are likely to flop over the edge of the border and damage lawn turf.
Use a mallet to hammer three or more bamboo canes, spaced around the plant, placing the canes a few centimetres outside of the clump, to avoid damaging the roots when you hammer them in. Tie string between the canes to hold them in place, in a ring surrounding the plant. Single-stemmed plants can be tied to a single cane; tie the string tightly to the cane and then loosely around the stem. Use a reef knot that won’t tighten up in the wind, and cause damage to the stem.
Lawns
It’s the time of the year when the lawn needs mowing at least once a week. This helps keep the weeds down, but weeds such as plantains and dandelions can be removed by hand. Don’t cut the lawn too short though; bare patches will result in moss and weeds colonising.
If you haven’t done so already, apply a lawn feed. This keeps the lawn healthy because continual grass removal impacts upon its vigour. Make sure lawn-feed is applied as per the product instructions; using more than recommended can result in scorching the lawn.
Use a half-moon lawn iron to make a well-defined edge between the lawn and the border. You’ll be amazed at how this simple job can perk up the whole garden.
Pruning jobs
Prune any early-flowering shrubs that flower on wood produced last year, once they have finished flowering. My Ribes sanguineum (flowering currant) has pretty much finished doing its stuff by now, so I will be cutting out any dead, diseased, damaged and crossing stems, and any weak spindly ones. I will then cut back flowered stems to a healthy bud lower down. My trusty RHS pruning book also advises removing around a fifth of older stems to the base.
My Choisya ternate (Mexican orange blossom) doesn’t generally need much pruning, but it has a bit of frost damage, so I will be pruning that out.
In the vegetable patch
Despite my best intentions and winter-fireside planning, I’m failing miserably in this department. However, if you have them, brassicas can now be planted out in their final cropping positions (I do actually have two Brussels sprouts - acquired from my college class. Well, at least, we think they are Brussels sprouts. The labels got lost at some point in the nursery process).
Sow your courgettes now - I’m going sow mine inside first, but if you do plant them directly outside, make some cloches out of halved plastic drink bottles to protect them from the cold, and be mindful of the amount of space they need; allow 75-90cm between plants.
Pinch out the tips of your broad bean plants when they flower, to discourage black fly.
So little time!
If you are hard pressed for time and space, but still want the satisfaction of ‘growing your own’, you can start successional plantings of salad leaves and rocket, and herbs such as coriander and dill. You can grow these in small containers or window boxes. You can then have fresh salad and herbs at your finger tips; tastier and much more cost effective than buying them from the supermarket.
