There’s plenty to celebrate this May with three bank holidays and all kinds of things making the garden looking amazing.
Here, the rhododendron is budding, aubrieta, aquilegia and alliums are in full bloom along with early iris and roses, while clematis and wisteria are climbing their way over fences and the shed. I’m very jealous of my sister’s tree peony at this time of year – it’s a magnificent thing, nearly as tall as me (5 foot 10 if you’re wondering) and covered with huge deep pink flowers. Of course, she gardens on clay which does wonders for peonies and roses.
But you can’t spend three bank holidays stood around admiring, these long weekends give you plenty of time to get into the borders and get stuff done.
Don’t be lulled into a false sense of security by all the flowers that are out right now; there’s still the potential for a late frost or two so keep some fleece about and protect your more tender veg plants – like cucumbers, sweetcorn or chillies – under cover for a little longer. The risk of frost should have passed by the end of the month when tender plants can be hardened off and planted out.
I tried lifting some of my dahlias last October but didn’t manage to get them buried in old compost to protect them in time, so lost the lot to the first serious frost of December. I still left plenty in the ground though and these should have made it through OK. If you lifted yours, you may have started them off already and have fairly good-sized plants to get in the ground by the end of the month, but any you left in the ground will soon catch up. I also planted cosmos seeds in April, pinching out the tops of seedlings to make them bushier, and they’ll be big enough to go in the ground this month too.
Don’t forget to harden off anything you’ve been growing under cover for a couple of weeks. Just put them outside during the day and back under cover as the temperatures drop overnight, then bring them out again in the warmer morning. A couple of weeks of this will stop them going into shock when they’re planted out.
If you grow apples, plums and greengages, get some pheromone traps up to monitor for codling and plum fruit moths and reduce the risk of maggots in your fruit (gross). The sticky trap lets you detect male moths as they look for mates from mid-May until the end of July. While the traps will prevent some male moths from mating (and it’s the female’s eggs that become maggots and damage your fruit), they usually indicate it’s time to get some insecticide on your trees. I don’t really like to use insecticides though, so just let the traps reduce the risk and live with some fruit that I can’t eat.
Speaking of gross wriggly things. Don’t forget to also check any gooseberry plants for sawfly larvae, voracious little caterpillars that will shred your bushes in a matter of days. They don’t damage fruit but can set the plant back and affect fruiting the following year. You can use nematodes to control them very effectively if you prefer not to use insecticides.
While plenty is growing, there’s stuff to prune too in May. Once flowered, your deutzia, flowering current, forsythia, mock orange or bridal wreath (Spiraea ‘Arguta’) should be cut back to keep their size under control and encourage fresh growth over summer which will carry more flowers next year.
I’ll also cut back the Clematis montana, planted on the front of my house with climbing roses Claire Austin and Paul‘s Himalayan Musk, but which now only flowers occasionally and only at the very top.
To refresh it, I’ll hard prune the clematis this spring after it’s flowered. Montana usually responds well and should give me better flowers lower down the plant next season. While I’m at it, I’ll tie the Himalayan Musk as near to horizontal as possible. The restricted flow of sap will encourage more side-shoots along the length of stem and so more flowers on this plant too. Hurrah!
Although it’s our last speaker evening on 3 May, there’s still plenty of gardening events to look forward to in Dedham this summer. Come along to our plant sale in front of the church, member coffee morning (join up and join us!) or annual coach trip – this year we’re off to Great Comp in Kent.
Dedham Horticultural Society 