May is the month where we really start to see the garden coming to life. Spring is normally associated with April and March but we certainly see a lot of springing in May. Hopefully you’ve prepared your beds and your borders to give new growth every chance of success, but whether you have or haven’t; there’s still some work to do. Let’s get stuck in…
Perennials
Every good chore list starts with the worst thing, right? Attack your weeds with reckless abandon, rooting them out from all beds and replacing with a good, natural plant food. Get a few inches of mulch on top, to provide moisture and prevent weed regrowth. When it comes to what type of mulch, cardboard and newspaper is the growing off-piste choice that really does the anti-weeding job well.
Water, water, water. Water deeply, particularly in areas where you’ve transplanted or rotated soil. Refresh your soil and it’ll save you a lot of time in the long run. Roses are particularly grateful of this, trim canes with more than five leaflets back to the main stem.
Annuals & Vegetables
Given our recent spate of good weather, the soil should be warm enough to start sowing the tender annuals; like marigold, salvia and zinnia. It’s unlikely we’re going to have another frost again this side of summer.
Any vegetables that you started indoors are ready to be acclimatised to the outdoors. At the warmest part of the warmest days, set them outside in the shade for an hour or two. Build this up over a few weeks before releasing them fully to the outdoors.
Houseplants
Your houseplants have served your home well after a long indoor winter, now they’re becoming unruly and impatient! With longer daylight hours and more sunlight, they need more fuel and care; which often means more pests. Tackle this as early and as promptly as possible, remove any that are too far gone and get ready to transplant outdoors in June.
For your ferns, begin watering more freely but don’t let them stand in water.
Eden Restored is a team of passionate garden designers working throughout London, Kent and Surrey.
We deliver value-for-money on projects of any size, from inner-city courtyards to countryside cottages.
To discuss your ideas and how we can help throughout the entire process, get in touch.