May is usually the busiest month of the year for a gardener. As the soil warms up, your seedlings and plants should be growing well by now. But beware of late frosts that can catch you off guard. Protect young or vulnerable plants with fleece if a frost is forecast.
Weeding
It’s a never-ending battle with weeds. With the warmer weather, both your plants and weeds thrive, and just a few minutes each day will keep the weeds at bay. Using a hoe will keep the soil moving and will slice the weeds off at soil level. If there isn’t enough room to hoe between your crops, use a small hand trowel to dig up the weeds. As the summer months progress, weeding will become easier as the weed growth slows down.
The best time to weed is during warm, sunny days. Any weeds sliced by the hoe or pulled up can be left on the surface of the soil to rot down, releasing some goodness back into the soil.
Tomato Care
After planting, tomatoes shoot up rapidly. Secure the main stems to canes to prevent them from toppling over. For cordon varieties, prune any side shoots between the main stem and leaf branches. As soon as the first flowers form, you can start feeding them weekly with liquid tomato feed.
Earthing up Potatoes
There’s nothing better than seeing the lush green growth of the potato plants. However, it’s important to keep earthing them up to help the tubers develop and to protect them from sunlight. If light gets to the tubers, they will turn green and become poisonous, and they are only good for the compost heap.
To earth them up, simply draw the soil up around the plant to create ridges and do this for the next month or two. Alternatively, you can apply organic matter such as grass clippings or homemade compost.
For potatoes grown in containers, once the shoots have grown to around 5cm, cover them with 8-10cm of compost. Repeat the process until you’ve reached the top of the container.
May Planting Guide
Consider these plantings for May:
- Start courgettes, squash, marrows, pumpkins, and runner beans under cover for transplanting later in the month or after your last frosts. Sow them in small pots or modules and water lightly preventing damping off.
- Continue sowing salad staples like lettuce, radish, spring onions, and beetroot for a steady supply over the summer months.
- Sow sweetcorn in small pots indoors or a greenhouse. If you live in a warmer part of the country, you can sow direct providing you give them protection.
- Plant tomatoes, peppers, and chillies in their final spots. If you are planting them outdoors, hold out until the last frosts or give them some protection using a fleece.
May Harvest Delights
Weather permitting, here’s some things you could be eating from the garden this month.
- Early salad crops should be ripe for picking.
- Spring cabbage, sprouting broccoli, and kale are ready for harvest.
- Harvest asparagus spears when they reach 6 inches tall. You can harvest over a period of 6-7 weeks but it’s important to leave at least 6 spears per plant to grow on throughout the summer months.