May Garden Diary
This month is all about keeping on top of things and consequently not feeling as if the garden is running away with me. Hoeing weeds and potting on seedlings are my main priorities over the next few weeks, and planting out any new plants or hardy seedlings if the ground warms up a little. The colour in the garden tunes up a notch in May. Vibrant greens are now joined by orange, magenta and different shades of blue. This is when I welcome the thuggish Centaurea montana which is threatening to take over the front garden, because its flowers are exactly the same shade of blue as the Teucrium fruticans. Both these plants have been humming with bees every time I go out there; I noticed at least four different types of bee on the teucrium this lunchtime.
Before they start growing upwards and weaving into each other, the perennials make tight, hummocky shapes that form a pleasing undulating tapestry with a river of pale blue forget-me-nots running through. The forget-me-nots have seeded themselves around my borders from a few plants dug up from a friend’s garden a few years ago. Some people dismiss forget-me-nots as weeds because they can be so prolific, but I couldn’t do without them as a foil for tulips and other spring bulbs. They make the whole border look fuller and less gappy at this time of year. To grow them, beg a few plants from a friend, or scatter seed in May or June for plants the following year. Towards the end of May they start to fade, and I rip them all out to make room for summer annuals.
The other stalwart in my garden at this time of year is the geum (see the first picture in this post). Flowering from April onwards, some cultivars like ‘Totally Tangerine’ will continue all summer if you deadhead them regularly, and they are perfect for growing alongside a whole host of other perennials from salvias to honesty. I grow several different types in my garden: zingy ‘Prinses Juliana’ in the gravel garden, armfuls of ‘Totally Tangerine’ in the back border, as well as the lower-growing ‘Bell Bank’, which has smaller nodding flowers in the most gorgeous dusky rose-pink. I also have a couple of wallflowers that I like to dot around to colour-compliment the geum - Erysimum ‘Apricot Twist’ is almost the same shade of orange as ‘Totally Tangerine’ while ‘Pastel Patchwork’ is more subtle. They are supposedly perennial but I find it quite hard to keep them going. This year, I’m going to cut them back hard after flowering, which I’ve heard is meant to help.
Peonies, of course, are the queens of the May garden, just budding up now as I write at the beginning of the month. I have a growing collection in my garden – sugar-pink ‘Sweet Harmony’, palest pink ‘Sarah Bernhardt and the darker magenta ‘Karl Rosenfeld’. This year I also added a new intersectional peony, which is a very expensive hybrid between a herbaceous and a tree peony. I had been coveting this particular variety, ‘Kopper Kettle’, for about five years, ever since I saw it at the Chatsworth Plant Fair. It has exquisite coppery-pink blooms that sadly I won’t see until at least this time next year, as it was only a small bare root specimen when I planted it earlier this year. It’s planted in the corner of one of my front garden in a prominent position where I can keep other plants at bay so it doesn’t get overwhelmed.
My vegetable garden is slightly behind the curve because the weather and the ground has been so cold, but I’m lucky enough to have chard and perpetual spinach plants that overwintered successfully and are now cropping well. I have sown beetroot, kale, beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes and squash in modular trays, and most of these are still in the greenhouse, to be planted out into the beds at some point this month. What I’m longing for is a week or two of warm, sunny weather to make it really feel like spring.
Other jobs this month
• Plant out half hardy annuals and summer bedding plants
• Plant out courgettes, squash and other tender veg such as runner beans
• Earth up potatoes to prevent the crop forming on the surface of the soil
• Sow succession crops such as salad leaves
• Hoe and pull weeds regularly
• Feed container plants every two weeks with a liquid feed
• Water crops and plants diligently if the weather is dry
Thank you - so enjoy reading your thoughts, advice and viewing photos.