What to do in your garden in May.
Our awesome weather in May allows us to spend many enjoyable hours in the garden. Many gardening hours to get your spring bulbs and tulips into the ground as well as planting and maintaining trees and shrubs.
Flowers
- Make sure that planted Sweet Peas are given plenty of support and mulch them well to keep their roots moist. Fertilise them every two weeks Margaret Roberts Organic Supercharger or Multifeed Flowergro.
- May is Tulip time, you can plant right up until the end of May.
- Continue watering your spring flowering bulbs and feeding every two weeks with Hadeco’s Bulb Food or Multifeed Flowergro.
- Lift and store Dahlia tubers as soon as their foliage has died down completely, alternatively cut the hollow stems back down to about 10cm (4in) above the tuber.
- Sow flower seeds like Namaqualand Daisies, Iceland Poppies, Sweet Peas, Calendula, Foxgloves and Virginian Stocks.
Lawns
- Sow cool season lawns like Shade Over and All Seasons Evergreen.
- Reduce the amount of watering on your Kikuyu lawns; twice a month will be sufficient.
Vegetables, Herbs & Fruit
- Sow vegetables seeds like Broad Beans, Kale, Lettuce, Radish and Spinach.
- Keep on feeding your winter veggies, but make sure the beds are damp before you feed them. Feed with Talborne’s Vita Veg or a liquid alternative like Margaret Roberts Organic Supercharger.
- Fruit trees can be planted between autumn and spring although species which need warmth (Apricot and Peach trees) should not be planted until after the wint
General Tasks
- Start protecting your frost tender plants from the cold with frost cover or hessian, available at GardenShop now.
- Water Camellias, Azaleas, Rhododendrons and Magnolias, then mulch with acid compost.
- Houseplants should be watered less frequently as temperatures drop.
- Before putting away your lawn mower and trimmers for the winter, give it a thorough clean and take it off to the lawnmower specialists for a general overhaul and to have the blades sharpened.
- Clear autumn leaves from your gutters and use for making compost or mulching flower beds.
- Attract birds to your garden by feeding them during winter when there is little natural food available. Look out for GardenShop’s range of bird food treats like suet slabs and suet balls.
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Thank for
A recent article in Africa Birdlife magazine stated that “feeding wild birds is only done for the benefit of the feeder”. Birds rarely benefit – if you do put out food (I do) please make the schedule irregular to prevent the birds from becoming dependent – every second day is the most frequent, and they still have to rely on other sources for the other day. This is good for them! Also, suet as mentioned in the article is great, the article showed two stork chicks who succumbed after being fed a surplus of polony, which was put out as food for the parent storks by well-meaning people. Processed food is not good for birds.