Jobs / Tips
As the flowers of spring flowering shrubs fade,
they can be pruned back to get a good display next year.
Forsythia, Ribes (flowering currants), Kerria japonica,
Chaenomeles (Japanese quince) and early flowering Spirea should all be
pruned regularly to keep them vigorous and flowering well.
If you have a neglected plant, then they can
withstand being cut pretty much right down to the ground, though I prefer to
carry out drastic renovation over at least two years.
Lower the lawn mower height to the normal setting
now. Initial mowings in early spring should be slightly
higher than normal, after a couple
the blades can be lowered. Remember that a little and often is the best way to get
a really good lawn.
Give your lawns a feed of fertiliser now.
Buy a proprietary lawn feed and follow the instructions
carefully, I can guarantee that in the next few weeks I'll get a few emails
from people who over-feed their lawns and want me to tell them how to deal with the
dead patches. These emails usually ask if I think it's a good idea to add some other
chemical they've heard about or found in the shed (it isn't).
Weed, weed and thrice weed!
They're coming up thick and vigorously now, so start while they're
relatively small and you'll stop them from seeding and have a chance of staying
on top of the situation.
Continue to
protect young shoots from slugs, scatter pellets / slug pubs or whatever
particularly around clematis and herbaceous plants (they love Delphiniums).
Plant up containers and hanging baskets with tender summer
bedding plants towards the end of the month, but don't put them out until all risk
of frost has passed.
Trim quick growing hedges.
They're starting to sprout well now and it helps keep them in shape
before they get too unruly. Most hedge types can be left until early to mid summer,
but the faster growing varieties need 3 trims a year.
Watch out for early signs of aphids.
Go out walking one morning in May, by the time you get back you're almost guaranteed
to be inspired to write a folk song, place left forefinger in left ear for additional
inspiration.
Plants
for May
