May 2020 Gardening Reminders

Gardening reminders for May 2020

Check out our latest gardening reminders for May 2020 put together by chairman and horticulturist John Richardson.

1. Make sowing of hardy and half-hardy annuals and plant out when the risk of frost has passed.
2. Mulch shrubs and fruit bushes when weather begins to warm up, but not deeply into the centre of the shrub, when growing from a stool.
3. Plant evergreen shrubs, water before and after planting.
4. Now is a good time to think about building that raised rockery bed you have contemplated for years. Choose a location not under trees and lay a foundation of broken stones for good drainage. For the walls, use stone, sleepers, stout branches,
   bricks or similar, leaving spaces in the walls for plants to grow from, subject to the type of plants you wish to grow. the soil should be acid for rhododendron types and neutral for most other plants. A few large rocks on the surface will add character,
   together with upright plants and conifers as well as ground cover.
5. Apply a high Nitrogen lawn fertilizer, and water-in if conditions are dry, in order to prevent scorch to the grass.

6. In mild weather slugs and snails may well begin to eat the shoots of newly growing perennials. Use environmentally approved slug pellets as a control.

7.  Dahlias may begin to sprout in mild conditions under glass, but don’t plant out until frost is past. Consider taking cutting of the first shoots.

8. Towards the end of the month collect woody twigs to use as supports for perennials before they get too long and straggly.

9. Apply residual weedkillers to gravelled driveways and footpaths. Be careful to ensure that the application is confined to the treated area and not surroundings. Significant drift can occur when using a pressurised sprayer.

10. Begin mowing the lawn weekly, but with the blades set quite high until the rate of growth increases. Dig out those perennial weeds that suddenly appear.

11. Check stakes and ties of trees planted in the last 2 years, stakes should still be sound and the tree ties not strangling the tree.

12. As the danger of night frost diminishes apply mulches to the soil to help conserve moisture.

View our full list of gardening reminders for the year, here 

 

Posted 5th May 2:26pm