May is a fabulous month for the garden, spring is well and truly established and the beginnings of summer are showing. Your fruit and vegetables will be showing excellent promise (hopefully) of good crops and buds will be appearing on your summer flowers.
Weeding – either by hand or hoe is crucial, keep on top of the weeds as best you can as we all know how quickly they can get out of hand. Using mulches to keep weeds down will save you some back breaking work and give the plants some much needed nutrients as well as helping with drainage. If it starts to overwhelm you then obviously call and book in a session with the Greengage team.
Lawns – you will need to be mowing weekly by now and some of you may even be doing it slightly more frequently. Put time into raking away any debris or old growth and don’t forget the edges to make it look as neat as possible. In our garden we’ve been working to expose the stepping stones in our lawn and ensure that all ‘hard to reach bits’ are either strimmed or hand trimmed so that small areas don’t spoil the overall look of the lawn.
If you haven’t already, think about a planting plan, it’s very easy to get mixed up with what needs to go in the greenhouse or direct in the soil and to have hundreds of carrots but no beans because you have run out of space. A little bit of planning and thinking about time frames will ensure you have lettuces all summer rather than for just a short period of time and mean that your flower borders will have blooms for as long as possible.
If you had any overcrowded clumps of bulbs now is the time to divide them and lift them. It is also the time to trim back the leaves if the foliage has become yellow and straw like. This is usually about six weeks after flowering and ensures that all the energy has been absorbed into the bulbs.
Water harvesting – make sure your systems are all up and running to take advantage of any end of April showers as it could be another long hot summer.
BBQ season has begun, make sure your patios are jet washed and ready (its a really effective way of brightening a space and a quick job our gardeners can do for you), and that you have a lovely mix of colour and scent around you for your al fresco dining as the evenings become warmer and longer.
Fruit and vegetables – as well as what seems like constant watering, be on serious pest watch to make sure we get to eat the fruits of our labour. Check your greenhouses for pests and remove them.
Enjoy and try not to get overwhelmed by how much there is to do in the garden at this time of the year and if you do, get in touch.
Words: Jude Eastick, Company Director & Head Gardener