Your monthly checklist for May gardening tips. Our expert knowledge and advice will help your garden flourish this month.
May Gardening Tips
Fruit & Vegetables
Continue to sow.
- Sow sweetcorn in deep pots for successful transplantation into the garden in June.
- Sow dwarf and climbing French beans and runner beans directly outdoors in warm weather.
- Sow salad leaves and stir-fry crops in batches every few weeks for a continuous harvest.
- Keep seedlings well watered by using our range of spray gun products.
Improving your harvest.
- Thin out seedlings, such as carrots, from earlier sowings to promote healthy growth.
- Ensure pollinating insects can access flowers by opening fruit cage doors or lifting netting.
- Maximize fruit production by removing all strawberry runners.
- Harvest rhubarb stems as they develop and feed plants with liquid fertilizer.
- Harden off tender young plants, like tomatoes and courgettes, in preparation for planting in mild areas.
Protect your fruit & vegetables.
- Cover potato shoots with soil by earthing up to promote healthy growth.
- Protect young seedlings or fruit blossom from late frosts by keeping plenty of fleece handy.
- Install pheromone traps in apple and plum trees from May to July to manage pests.
- Control snail populations by regularly hunting them down during damp evenings.
May Gardening Tips
Flowers
Sowing, pruning and planting.
- Continue sowing annuals like poppies, corn marigolds and cornflowers for pops of colour from August to autumn.
- Prune shrubs like forsythia and chaenomeles after flowering to keep them compact and healthy.
- Plant tender annuals and summer bedding, including sunflowers, cosmos, and nasturtiums after the last frost.
- Plant out dahlia tubers and cannas once all risk of frost has passed for a stunning summer display.
Protect and control.
- Remove faded spring bedding, like wallflowers and forget-me-nots, and add them to your compost bin.
- Check lilies and fritillaries for scarlet lily beetles and their larvae, which can strip plants of all foliage.
- Harden off tender indoor-raised plants during the day and bring them back in at night to protect them from late frosts.
- Establish hanging baskets in a greenhouse or porch before placing them outside for a vibrant display.
Encourage new growth.
- Tie in new shoots of climbing plants such as clematis, wisteria, and honeysuckle for a tidy appearance.
- Apply liquid feed to spring bulbs like tulips and daffodils to encourage a gorgeous display next year. Create your own liquid feed using the Bokashi composter.
- Add interest to shady borders with a selection of hostas and ferns for a lush and verdant display.
- Encourage bushier growth in young annuals and bedding plants, like fuchsias, by pinching out the shoot tips.
May Gardening Tips
Greenhouse
Greenhouse maintenance.
- Tie the stems of indoor tomatoes, cucumbers, and aubergines to canes as they grow.
- Put up shading to lower daytime temperatures and reduce scorching.
- Open doors and vents on warm days, but close them in the evening as nights can still be cold.
Greenhouse planting and care
- Plant heat-treated freesia corms in pots for fragrant flowers this summer.
- Take cuttings of woody herbs such as hyssop, rosemary, and thyme, and root in pots of gritty compost.
- Keep pricking out seedlings as soon as they get their first true leaves, to avoid overcrowding and fungal diseases.
Greenhouse jobs.
- Water thirsty crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers, and courgettes regularly as the weather starts to warm up. Use a grow bag waterer for a more efficient way to water.
- Check plants regularly for pests, on shoot tips and the underside of leaves, and treat with biological controls if desired.
- Transplant tomatoes into growing bags or large pots, and tie their main stem to a cane or vertical wire for support.
April Gardening Tips
May Gardening Tips
General maintenance
- Remove pondweed, blanketweed, and algae from your water features and ponds. Use a Pond Vac, Pond Grabber and Gloves to make the job easier.
- Repair damaged patches and create new lawns by sowing grass seed or laying new turf by month-end.
- Build sturdy wigwams and supports for climbers such as sweet peas, morning glory, and runner beans.
- Condition your wooden garden furniture for summer with a wood treatment application.
Garden care.
- Prevent eye injuries by adding soft tops to canes in your pots, borders, veg plots, and greenhouses.
- Check for nests in shrubs before pruning to avoid disturbing nesting birds.
- Avoid weed establishment and seed set by hoeing bare soil and hand-weeding beds weekly. Use our Weed Control products to irradicate weeds from your garden.
- Recycle more green waste by setting up an extra compost bin or worm bin. Try our EasyMix 2-in-1 Composter to give your garden soil the care it deserves.
- Maintain hygiene by regularly cleaning out and scrubbing bird feeders.
Garden improvements.
- Create walkways through wildflower areas by mowing grass pathways.
- Keep your topiary looking neat and promote bushy growth by trimming it regularly.
- Support clumps of perennials, like peonies or phlox, prone to flopping with sturdy supports in place.
- Watch out for aphids on shoot tips and young foliage and treat them with a soap-based solution or wipe them off.
- Encourage leafy growth by applying nitrogen-rich summer lawn feed to your lawn.
We hope you enjoyed reading about the top gardening jobs in May. If you’d like to get involved, drop us a comment below with your plans for this month!
