What to do in the garden in May

It’s hard to pick a favourite month for the garden, but with its’ fresh, vibrant growth, May comes pretty close to the best.

I went to New Covent Garden Flower Market this week to put the final list of flowers together for my daughters wedding next week – I’ve got butterflies in my tummy just typing that phrase- and I bought a tray of white pelargonium [often called geraniums, although they are perennial types that stay planted in the soil] while I was there. I’m going to plant them in pots outside the front door and the sitting room, maybe with campanulas, I’ll post a photo over on Instagram when they’re done

It’s best to keep tender plants like pelargoniums somewhere sheltered and frost-free before you plant them out, that goes for all tender plants, you may have to wait until the end of May.

This is what I’ve got lined up for the rest of the month:

I’ll be sowing Zinnias straight into the soil towards the end of the month, I grew them at the allotment last year and they were wonderful flowers for cutting.

What to do in the garden in May-zinnia flower

Zinnia flower at the allotment last year.

The little box hedge round the roses and a few other box shrubs will get a trim to keep them neat and shapely. The sun turns the newly-cut leaf edges brown, so I’ll wait for a cloudy day.

box balls on the Alitex stand at The Chelsea Flower Show

I’m snipping dead flowers off bulbs as they fade, and I’ll give them a feed of general fertiliser to build up ready for flowering next year.

Shrubs like Ribes (ornamental currant) that have just finished flowering can be pruned now, just cut out dead and diseased wood, a few stems in the middle can be cut right down to open it up and let air circulate around the centre of the plant.

Tie-in sweet peas and other climbers as they grow, and if time is short, cutting the grass and trimming the edges makes it all look better.