The flowerbeds are in full growth now and some judicious staking will help delphiniums and lupins all benefit from some support of some sort. If you use bamboo canes, put some caps on the top – it’s all too easy to poke an eye!
If you have any gaps and you didn’t use hardy annual seed, try some half-hardy annual seed such as zinnias and French marigolds which will germinate quickly in warm soil. With shrubs such as flowering currants, cut out some of the older growths and any weedy stems, shape the bush and it will repay you with better flowers next year.
Watch out for aphids on fruit trees and bushes. Leaf curl on peaches and nectarines is best dealt with by picking the leaves off and burning them.
If you have weeds in your lawn, it’s a good time to treat them. However, do be careful if you grow tomatoes and cucumbers – the slightest whiff of hormone weed killers will make them turn their toes up!
The middle of May is a good time to sew biennials for next years – wallflowers, Sweet Williams, Canterbury Bells, and Holly Hocks all have a longer growing season and make better plants for next year. Polyanthus and primroses can all be divided and replanted now.
If you haven’t put runner bean seed in yet, it’s not too late. I always put two seeds to a 9cm pot and plant both to each cane. I use four canes to a wigwam and then a cane to join other wigwams to give stability.
Happy growing.
Pete Chamberlain.
If you have any gaps and you didn’t use hardy annual seed, try some half-hardy annual seed such as zinnias and French marigolds which will germinate quickly in warm soil. With shrubs such as flowering currants, cut out some of the older growths and any weedy stems, shape the bush and it will repay you with better flowers next year.
Watch out for aphids on fruit trees and bushes. Leaf curl on peaches and nectarines is best dealt with by picking the leaves off and burning them.
If you have weeds in your lawn, it’s a good time to treat them. However, do be careful if you grow tomatoes and cucumbers – the slightest whiff of hormone weed killers will make them turn their toes up!
The middle of May is a good time to sew biennials for next years – wallflowers, Sweet Williams, Canterbury Bells, and Holly Hocks all have a longer growing season and make better plants for next year. Polyanthus and primroses can all be divided and replanted now.
If you haven’t put runner bean seed in yet, it’s not too late. I always put two seeds to a 9cm pot and plant both to each cane. I use four canes to a wigwam and then a cane to join other wigwams to give stability.
Happy growing.
Pete Chamberlain.