Gardening in May

Written by Shauna Daly MVB.

May is when the garden soil has warmed up, the daylight hours are long and there is a long list of things to be done. It is a great time to go and appreciate being outside, whether it is in your garden or on between consults as a vet.

Most vegetable seeds, such as carrots, beetroot, radish, spinach and chard can still be sown now. Cauliflower, broccoli and kale can also be sown - but these brassicas will require netting to prevent cabbage white butterflies from laying their eggs on them. Squash and courgette can be planted - these are fast growing, hungry plants which produce large amounts of food.

Flower seeds can be planted in May also. It is time to start sowing biennials, which will flower next year. These include our native foxglove and forget-me-not, as well as hollyhock and aquilegia.

It is time to ‘pot on’ the plants sown earlier in the year, moving them into bigger pots. Some of these can be ‘hardened off’, acclimatised to the colder weather outside before planting into your garden. Tomatoes, peppers and chillies can be moved into the greenhouse, or outside, after your last frost date.

There are a few other tasks in the vegetable garden- these include earthing up potatoes, pinching out broad bean shoots, weeding between small seedlings and watering if there is no rain forecast.

‘No Mow May’ is a concept worth embracing in your garden or practice. Leaving the lawnmower in the shed allows longer grass and flowers to flourish, providing habitat and food for insects.