Jobs for May
SEEDS TO SOW
If you have been busy in March & April, you probably have plenty of annuals either growing in the ground or ready to be planted out. If you don’t, there is still plenty of time, but I am going to add biennials to your to-do list.
Biennials fill in the ‘May gap’ between the end of the tulips and the start of the ‘proper’ summer flower season (yes, roses) and they are worth giving a bit of time and space to, even in this busy month of May.
Usually by May, the soil is warm enough to direct sow (just scrape a drill with the end of a hoe, scatter like pepper over scrambled eggs, cover, water and wait) but the chances are, the places that you will want biennials next year are already full of hardy annuals which will be coming to full glorious abundance this coming summer. The solution is to sow into plugs or pots. However, do not do what I did a few years back, and leave them in a greenhouse over winter. Biennials generally need a bit of a chill to trigger flowering, which they don’t get under cover. I must have been the only person who took three years to get an honesty plant from seed to flower…
My favourite biennials
Icelandic poppies
Anthriscus sylvestris ’Ravenswing’ (Black cow parsley)
Nicotiana
Foxgloves – I am sowing woolly, chocolate, apricot and strawberry
Honesty
Sweet rocket (Hesperis)
Aquilegia (Technically a short-lived perennial and I do sow seed in January, but they work well as a biennial too)
Hollyhocks (also technically a short-lived perennial but growing as a biennial minimises rust)
Teasels
The biennial shop is fully stocked and they have replaced the sweet peas as the seeds on sale. Although you might be able to sneak one more sweet pea sowing under the tape.
Late summer annuals
There is still time for late summer annuals, (hardy, half-hardies & tenders). Which is lucky because I lost my first two cosmos sowings to the ubiquitous slugs:
Cosmos
Ammi
Calendula (Scatter in the vegetable plantings as companions)
Helichrysum/Strawflowers
Sunflowers
Cornflowers
Briza media & B. maxima
Phlox, just, if you are prone to late, warm summers where you are
Weld
Viola – Tiger Eye for pots, and the native Heart’s ease as a pretty green manure
Corncockle
Ox eye daisies
If you have already sown in trays, they will be ready for…
Pricking out
Once your seedlings have two true leaves, it is time to get them out of the seed trays and into pots. Firstly, they are likely to be running out of room and their roots are going sideways and getting entangled with one another, which means that you will damage them if they stay there much long. Secondly, there really isn’t a lot of nutrition in seed compost, and the plant will have got as far as it has with what was stored inside the seed when you sowed it. It is going to need more now.
Prepare your pots first. Lay them out, almost full of a multipurpose, peat-free compost. Dib a hole in the middle but don’t press the soil down or compact it. Use a label, a pencil, or a butterknife to get right underneath the seedling and lift it out. What I mean is, if you can possibly resist, lift out, don’t tug the plant. The advice is also to touch the leaves not the stem; they only have one stem and if it is damaged the plant won’t recover. It can probably afford to have a leaf damaged and still grow on absolutely fine.
Drop the seedling into the hole you have made and give it a bit of a shuffle, so the compost falls back in and fills the hole. Water from underneath. You may need to top up the compost after you have watered, it can often sink a bit.
Many plants can be dropped in so it is only their leaves above the compost and the whole stem is buried. That is, the line of where it was in the seed tray is much lower than in the pot. Lots of plants can grow roots from their stems if they are underground and so you get stronger and healthier plants this way.
Definitely do this with cosmos and tomatoes.
Other jobs for this month
Weed
Use a hoe where you can, and let the weeds drop where they are chopped. Soil protection, weed suppressant, and fertiliser all at once. If this isn’t an option, then:
Compost
I know this is no-mow May, and of course I support that. Long patches are left to flower and shelter local wild-life. But I am also very very devoted to my compost heap, so we do mow a bit. Fresh weeds are fabulous and nitrogen rich, but nothing gets a heap hot than some grass clippings. Mix with carboard or bark chippings to prevent sliminess.
PLANT DAHLIA TUBERS AND CUTTINGS
Where I am (the mildest bit of a mild county in a warm and wet country) I can usually take middle of April as the last frost. This year has obviously been horrendously unpredictable, but I cannot leave it any longer. I mean, Chelsea week is the absolute limit. The dahlia tubers, cuttings and all*, are all going in the ground. Don’t bury them too deep and add a little grit if you have it. They do love full sun so be a bit considerate where you put them. Yes, I am trying pots this year too.
*not the ones I started from seed. My fault, I didn’t prick them out and pot them up in time and they are tiny still.
STAKING, SUPPORTING & tying in
There is a moment between the plant getting into its growth stride when it has size and weight, but hasn’t yet managed to hold itself up, or entwine with an external support, or get its tendrils onto something vertical. Yes, mostly sweet peas, but also my furry brown clematis, and actually, my Mme Alfred Carriere is looking quite uncontained at the moment. Half an hour with a roll of twine and some scissors will pay dividends at this time of year. I find climbers that don’t feel anchored just don’t grow; once they feel that the support is there, they suddenly rush up.
Although, if we are talking sweet peas and you have only just planted yours out, don’t worry of they are sitting there languishing a bit. I do find mine always take a week or so to get used to the change of scenery and they look like they are doing absolutely no growing at all. Give it time. They’ll be fine.
For non-climbers, I am also putting frames of hazel around peonies and driving long tall stakes in next to the sunflowers. Although less than a hand span high now, these Hopi sunflowers are predicted to get to 8 or 9 feet tall.
WATERING
If you have had rain, you may think that you can relax on the watering front. And you can (although I don’t water anything that is in open ground anyway so this is a bit academic) but do not forget containers and anything in the greenhouse. My big pots in the courtyard are full of tulips which are feeding the bulbs and their need for water outstrips what rain would fall on that surface area. Keeping them well hydrated will make for fatter bulbs over the summer, and more tulips next year. I know that I added grit to the compost and lots of rocks to the pot so I am not worried about them getting waterlogged.
Celebrate THE RETURN OF THE WARMTH
Have supper outdoors. Breakfast if you are brave.
Go for a long walk in woodland. There are bluebells to be admired.
