May in the Garden

A Seasonal Celebration of the Land, Garden & Nature

Beginning of Summer, Warmer Days, Burgeoning Growth, 

Explosion of Green, Birdsong, Blossoming Potential, Darting Tadpoles. 

Issue 14 May 2020

May in The Garden

May is a joyful time in the garden. A time to enjoy all the growing that's going on - hopefully in the sunshine! The weather forecast looks promising for the next week so here's what's looking good and just a few small jobs you can tackle if you want to get out of the deckchair!

FLOURISH

Alliums are the stars of the May garden, for me. Tall, architectural and elegant they are equally at home in a blowsy soft cottage garden as in a contemporary urban planting scheme. They are long lasting, relatively cheap to buy as bulbs and look fantastic as cut flowers in the house. But the best news is they are easy to grow. 
Get your bulbs from a reputable supplier at the end of summer, plant them somewhere sunny in drifts of odd numbers and wait for a show in May. I like to grow dark purple Allium hollandicum 'Purple Sensation' alongside the paler lilac Allium aflatuense (hollandicum). I also throw a few of the almighty, huge-headed Allium cristophii into the beds for added pizzazz.

At the end of the summer, any alliums that survive my secauteurs and Wilfred the border terrier ploughing through them, are left to dry. Alliums make fantastic dried seedheads. I bring them inside to use in winter displays. 
The allium bulbs I planted fifteen or so years ago, come up strong each year but I do plant a few extra every Autumn because they are such a fantastic addition to the May garden. 

Peonies are another star plant for May. Their gorgeous, timeless elegance and glamour remind me of 1940s movie stars! I don't often recommend plants with blooms that only make a fleeting appearance but for the showy and impressive peony I'll make an exception. 
Despite their reputation for being difficult garden divas, I find them low maintenance and easy to grow. Here's the secret - plant them in the sunshine and don't plant them too deep. Plant no more than 2.5cm below the surface, otherwise you may get impressive foliage but no flowers! Then just cut back the foliage to the ground in July and cover the crown with some manure or compost to protect through the winter. 

Peonies come in a range of colours and some are fragrant. My favourites include Duchesse de Nemours, Coral Charm, Sarah Bernhardt and Buckeye Belle.  
They look lovely in a vase with some cow parsley. Go on give them a go - you'll thank me next May! 

THRIVE

Slugs seem to come into their own in May which sadly for us gardeners, corresponds with planting out seedlings! If you are using lockdown to extend your growing skills and want your seedlings to survive then you'll have to take measures to protect your plants from slugs. A bit of action now while your seedlings are most attractive to slugs will help the plants survive to the next stage of growth when they're less vulnerable.

If you garden organically or want a wildlife friendly garden then you won't want to use slug pellets which can adversely affect the food chain. None of the wildlife friendly techniques I've tried completely eradicates slug and snail damage, so I tend to use a combination to increase my rate of success! 

Here's my action plan:  

• I try to collect up as many slugs and snails as possible on wet evenings and early mornings and "release" them in the nearby field!
• I combine this slug-roundup with barrier techniques. Surrounding my seedlings with crushed egg shells -  the slugs don't like crawling over the rough surface to get to their dinner. During the year I collect, wash, dry and crush the shells every time I use eggs in cooking. Crushing them is strangely gratifying (a bit like vigorously recycling bottles at the bottle bank!) - and using them as an alternative to slug pellets is much better for the environment.
• This year I've also bought some copper tape to attach around containers. This is meant to act as a barrier stopping slugs and snails crawling over it to get to the crops.
• This is my favourite solution - I recruit the natural predators of slugs and snails into my garden to help me out. Attracting birds (particularly thrushes), frogs and hedgehogs who will munch through the critters, greatly helps in this battle!
• Going back to basics and growing healthy strong plants that can withstand some munching from the slugs also helps. Healthy plants grow quicker if they are planted in good soil and in the right conditions,  getting them passed the high risk young seedling stage ASAP.
• Put a reminder in in your diary next Valentine's Day to go on a slug hunt. Take your torch outside for a hunt for slugs eggs. If you get rid of the eggs before they become slugs it will pay off the following May! Romantic I know!

Strawberries are a real summer treat and you can grow them even in the smallest of outdoor spaces. They'll happily grow in containers and planting them in pots keeps them up off the ground away from the slugs and snails that try to eat them. 
Terracotta pots are often the first choice and they do look lovely planted with strawberries. But terracotta dries out quickly so you'll have to water your plants more frequently.

Luckily strawberries are equally as happy growing in plastic pots or even hanging baskets provided they have good drainage. 


Alternatively you could try planting strawberries in wall planters, stacked pots (3 pots of different sizes stacked on top of one another) or wire gabions with small holes for soil in between the stones.  Whatever container you choose, fill with a good compost like John Innes, place it in full sunshine and water regularly to get the most bounty and the sweetest fruit.

Cultivars recommended for growing in pots include Beltan, Florian, Frisan, Ruby-Ann & Temptation. Frisan and Ruby Ann have pink flowers which look pretty in contrast to the usual white strawberry flowers. There's more information at rhs.org.uk/fruit

Now is the time to sow Nasturtiums outdoors.  They are easy, quick growing plants ideal for threading through borders as ground cover and tumbling over pots on the patio.  

Not only do they look great with their cascades of fiery coloured flowers, they also attract the handy insects like ladybirds, lacewings, hoverflies and bees, which help to control the bad ones! You can use them to attract whitefly away from tomatoes and cucumbers.
Nasturtium flowers are edible too with a peppery taste - try adding them to your salads.

In terms of growing, they aren't fussy plants (hurrah!), preferring poor, well-drained soil and a sunny position. If the soil's too rich then you won't get as many blooms. Simply sow seeds where you want the flowers to bloom.

This year I'm sowing Tropaeolum majus 'Black Velvet' an almost-black nasturtium.  When the flowers are ready I'm planning to use them in a new recipe I've found for smoked haddock fish cakes, in Sarah Raven's Garden Cookbook. The recipe uses nasturtiums to replace black pepper in the fish and potato mix. Wish me luck!

However you decide to spend your days do try and get outside safely if you can - in your garden or on a balcony or taking your daily exercise outside away from others under big skies. Let me know what May highlights you spot and/or photograph

If you have any questions you can reach me via my website www.plotgardendesign.co.uk and please follow/like PLOT Garden Design on social media to receive my seasonal updates and photo

Keep well, breathe and remember to look outside and notice the details.