gardening jobs you can do in May

Jack's_mummy

IMO It's not worth worrying about the lawn until all kids have left home - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

Plum_Pie

Jack's_mummy wrote: »

IMO It's not worth worrying about the lawn until all kids have left home - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

I'm not worrying about my lawn until I retire. :rotfl:

ChocolateMonkey

Phew, feels like I have been super busy recently planting new additions which I had not planned to plant but did anyway.:rolleyes: I managed to buy some knock down seed plugs from B&Q, I wouldnt touch them at full price but at £1 for 12 plants I thought I might aswell try. I bought some summer cabbage, broccoli, cos lettuce and swiss chard. My mum also brought me back some summer leeks, peppers and celeriac back from holland to plant.
My sweetcorn is planted and my tomatoes have been pricked out into new little homes.
My potatoes are loving the weather and re-usable potato bags I bought and are growing very fast. My salad leaves were unfortunately gobbled overnight.

Only thing I worry about is if I planted my speedy carrots and beetroot too early.

Oh, I wondered if this forum ever had a garden pictures thread. I'd love to see peoples gardens, specially veg patches.

arkonite_babe

annie123 wrote: »

Well lets hope May is better than April was. Some things will be off to a slow start due to poor weather in April but they will catch up soon. Do remember to make allowances for where you live, sooner in the south later in the north etc.
Do let us know what your doing in your garden to give the rest of us ideas. Her are some things that can be done to get us going.

General gardening

* Finish anything left over from April
* Weed, weed, weed..Cant do too much weeding!
* Feed regularly
* Watch out for pest and diseases best to treat early if poss
* If you have not done so, use the first 2 weeks of may to do lawn repairs and lay new turf, it looks wetter than the end of May, less watering needed.
* Mow lawn regularly
* Mulch all plants after watering if not already done so
* Watch out for slugs…
* Make a note of any spring gaps that could be filled for next year
* Turn your compost, remember to add dry and wet stuff

Flower garden
* Sow hardy annuals and perennials straight outside
* Plant dahlias
* sunflowers ….grow some for the birds and good fun for kids if you can keep slugs away from them!! the sunflowers that is, not the kids!
* Pot on or plant (after hardening off if needed) plug plants
* Tidy alpines, trim off old flowers and dead bits etc
* Use twigs for support growing things where needed
* Plant up hanging baskets
* Divide clumps of herbaceous perennials
* Deadhead daffs and tulips leave the leaves to die down as long as poss and divide over crowded blind clumps
* Plant out cannas and other tender plants when no chance of frost
* Bedding plants can go in this month depending where you live but the 2nd half looks better for this.Also a good time to plant snowdrops in the green, better success rate than dry bulbs in the sutumn

Greenhouse
* Remember to ventilate on warm days
* Pinch out growing tips of fuchsias
* Sow French and runner beans for early crop
* Sow sweet corn
* Take cuttings of geraniums, also softwood cuttings of shrubs

Kitchen garden

* you can sow dwarf French beans, beetroot, sprouting broccoli, Brussels sprouts, summer and savoy cabbage, cauliflower, ridge cucumbers, endive, kale, kohl rabi, lettuce, marrows, peas, radish, spinach, swede, sweet corn and turnips. French Beans, Runner Beans, your salad crops should be sown in succession
* Plant little gem or radishes between sprouts as a quick crop
* Earth up early potatoes
* If like me your peach tree has leaf curl this year, pick off and throw leaves in bin. not compost, the new leaves will not be affected.
* Plant out seedlings of alpine strawberries
* Plant out tomatoes when no danger of frost.
* Sow basil, parsley and coriander. Also nasturtiums for the edible flowers
Ponds
* Last chance to plant water lilies
* Feed aquatic plants
* Trim excessive growth on plants
* Algae is common lots of ways to deal with it, but try this for ideas http://www.rhs.org.uk/advice/profiles0500/algae.asp
* Watch water levels, these may drop if we have warmer/hot weather:rolleyes:
Wildlife
* Feed the birds, not whole peanuts, dangerous to baby birds
* Keep a fresh water supply available for wildlife
* Try not to disturbed nesting sites, you can tidy shrubs, ivy etc later when the have all left the nest.
* Have you got a log pile yet?
* Try to make pond wildlife friendly
* Plant a wildlife meadow if space allows
* Remember insects are the gardener's friend, try to work with the cycle of nature if possible.

There are probably lots of other things I should have put here but got flu type thing so not thinking clearly, will update when I feel a bit better.

Happy gardening everyone

Thanks Annie, as ever I have added this thread to the useful links sticky at the top of the board so it can be found easily for future reference

annie123

woken at 5am this morning by bird song! I love the sound of birds but from 6.30 onwards please:rolleyes:

Not had much sleep due to back ache from to much digging at one go yesterday, how ever my deeper border looks good an I have been able to use the turf bits in other areas of the lawn that were looking a bit sad.:D

Everything that was growing indoors is now outside fending for its self except for my chillies.
I know I have planted some things too close together and will end up moving them again, but it looks silly when you put 2"high plants 18" apart.

Also sown hardy annuals direct outside for late summer flowers.

Decided that my garden is a bit boring during April, not much out in flower, will have to improve that for next year.

Happy gardening

Plum_Pie

Full of vim after the great weather this weekend and Saturday's efforts!

Bought some half price lily-of-the-valley to plant by the fence and a small Tatting fern for a currently bare and dank corner.

Dug up (ahem, 'thinned out') some lunaria from the communal front garden to pop in to my back garden.

Pulled up lots of the forget-me-knots which are starting to bore me and discovered more self-sown flower seedlings.

Got all excited about the buds on the 8 inch wide, 4 inch high geranium which has grown in a prominent spot of the main bed and which I did not plant and which is not from my neighbours garden either. Propagation by birds? I know not.

Managed to see my neighbour and thank her for the purple flag irises she gave me last year, 2 of which have flowered nicely this year.

~Chameleon~

Plum_Pie wrote: »

Bought some half price lily-of-the-valley to plant by the fence and a small Tatting fern for a currently bare and dank corner.

I hope you know that lily of valley is highly invasive and will take over your entire garden!!!! I've spent 2 years digging it up and it's still invading my veggie patches :mad:

annie123

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

I hope you know that lily of valley is highly invasive and will take over your entire garden!!!! I've spent 2 years digging it up and it's still invading my veggie patches :mad:

what sort of soil do you have? I have tried twice now in my current garden and it dies after 1 year.

Plum_Pie

~Chameleon~ wrote: »

I hope you know that lily of valley is highly invasive and will take over your entire garden!!!! I've spent 2 years digging it up and it's still invading my veggie patches :mad:

I do. My garden is slug central so I grow my veg in tubs. I'm quite happy for it take over a bit as I'm aiming for things which self-propagate so I do less work and more sitting about. I find pulling things out more relaxing than planting, tbh.

annie123

my poor back! over did the digging of my new border tonight after work, still it is getting there.

Have healed in some daffs which I will replant deeper in a different place later in the year.

copper tape is on trial around a pot with sunflowers in it, and it seems to be working, they haven't been eaten by slugs and snails:j ..yet!
ones in the ground...gone the night I planted them out:eek: