May is many gardener’s favourite month. There is lots to do in the garden, but also (all being well) plenty of warm sunshine in which to do it: and the odd warm evening to sit and stare. We’ve also had some rain (at last) so the soil is feeling and looking healthy and fertile. Overnight rain, as long as it’s not too torrential, followed by warm, bright days, makes for the very best growing weather. It’s amazing how a good shower can turn up the dial on May’s thousands of shades of green.
Markets and plant sales are full of tempting plants to buy, allowing you to add some instant colour if you need it now that the Tulips are over. Alliums are at their best right now: if you don’t have any, look out for the bulbs come autumn, and you won’t regret it this time next year. Allium ‘Purple Sensation’ is a reliable variety for the garden border, along with smaller-flowering Allium roseum (a lovely delicate shade of pink): but there a lots to choose from.
Now is the time to plant up hanging baskets and pots for doorsteps and patios. Pelargoniums (what most people call ‘Geraniums’) are easy to grow in a sunny spot, and don’t need a lot of looking after apart from regular tidying (take off the dead flowers and leaves). They come in all shades from white, through pink to the most vibrant red, and many types have variegated foliage as well. I am a big fan of the ‘Scented-leaved’ Pelargoniums, which tend to have more delicate flowers. Their main delight, however (as the name suggests) is their foliage – again, delicate but giving off glorious scents when touched. ‘Lemon Fizz’ is a beautiful variety, with a scent that matches its name perfectly.
If you sowed some hardy or half-hardy annuals in pots or trays earlier in the year, it’s time to plant them out now. Cornflowers, nasturtiums, marigolds – all will flourish once they’re in the ground. Corn Marigolds (Calendula) in particular will keep flowering long into the autumn. What’s even better is that they’ll self-seed enthusiastically so you’ll have them for years once established. If the weather is humid you might need to keep an eye out for slugs and snails after dark, but otherwise these flowers will look after themselves.
The trick to vegetable and salad growing is mainly a matter of ‘little and often’. Keep sowing ‘short rows’ of vegetables like carrots, radishes and lettuces every two or three weeks. That way you’ll avoid a ‘feast and famine’ situation. Cut-and-come-again salad leaves are really great to grow, as each plant will give you several pickings – and, when they’re done, you should have some younger plants following along. They can be grown in pots, window-boxes, even on a kitchen windowsill if you don’t have much space. Far better than the expensive bags of salad leaves from supermarkets: no packaging, no food miles and no chlorine-washing.
I won’t myself be getting carried away with the Chelsea Flower Show brouhaha this month. Yes, it’s a great shop window for growers and nurseries, but there tends to be too much of an emphasis on ‘gardening as conspicuous consumption’ for my liking. Watch the coverage on TV and you’ll get a far better view of the actual plants than in-real-life visitors ever get – and you avoid the ‘horticultural shopping mall’ which accompanies it.
Gardening should not be a costly exercise: a few packets of seeds, whatever space you have at your disposal, and maybe the odd plant from a market stall – then just sit back and enjoy.
Stephen J Hackett
Award Winning Independent Citizen Media Needs Your Help. PLEASE SUPPORT US FOR JUST £2 A MONTH https://dorseteye.com/donate/
