Property: How to CUT IT.
Byline: BY TOBY MUSGRAVE The TV GardenerMAY has arrived with sunshine and showers - and it's a time of change in the garden, too.
The key is propagation and preparation for this season's flowering. But let's deal with what has already happened first.
Now that spring-flowering shrubs have done their thing, it's time to thin Kerria by cutting out a third of its growth, and to prune back Choisya, Berberis, Chaenomeles, Ribes.
You can also cut back evergreens such as Viburnum tinus, and take a hack at your Clematis montana if it's grown too large.
May is also the perfect month to take softwood cuttings (the new growth) from deciduous shrubs such as Philadelphus, Forsythia, Fuchsia and Spirea.
It's time to be hard-hearted, too.
Seed sowing sadly always results in a loss - or perhaps more accurately, a massacre.
However careful you are, the density of seedlings is always too high. So now is the time to thin out the hardy annuals you sowed in situ over the last couple of months.
Depending on the final plant height you're aiming for, you'll want a spacing of 10cm to 20cm between plants.
Those seedlings being raised inside should also be pricked out, but just enough so that the seedlings can grow unhindered.
On the maintenance front, clip evergreen hedges, and begin to mow established lawns regularly, slowly dropping the height of the cut. If you've laid a new lawn, keep it well-watered.
In existing flowerbeds, place herbaceous plant supports in situ before the plants get too tall, and on the patio and elsewhere give all containerised plants a good feed with a liquid fertiliser.
I also add some three-month slow-release fertiliser granules to ensure that the plants don't get hungry over the summer.
If you have a pool, keep it topped up and remove blanket weed and duckweed - leave the weeds on the pondside for a day to allow any creatures to return to the water, then add to the compost heap.
Even if you don't have a 'dedicated' veg garden, there's nothing to stop you planting a few edibles in containers, or mixing them into flower borders, or even giving over a bed to production this summer.
May is the month to start getting growing, and even if you didn't sow seed earlier in the year, many garden centres sell plants that you can transplant straight into your garden.
However, there are many seeds that need to go in this month, so here goes.
All herb seed can be sown now, but keep tender types protected, and keep sowing at fortnightly intervals to get a constant supply. The same goes for summer salads, salad onions, radishes and carrots.
Other veggies to be sown in May include the cucurbits (cucumbers, pumpkins, indoor melons and legumes); runner beans, French beans and peas, and brassicas (cauliflower, broccoli and purple sprouting) for a winter harvest.
Potatoes should be earthed-up when the shoots are 25cm tall to prevent green potatoes.
Towards the end of the month, plant out tomatoes, courgettes and pumpkins - but keep them protected at night until the threat of frosts is finally passed.
Throughout the garden, keep a vigilant check for pests - try and treat them organically, and weed as required. And as sunlight levels are getting up, remember to ventilate the greenhouse sufficiently and erect shading.
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| Publication: | Sunday Mercury (Birmingham, England) |
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| Date: | May 8, 2005 |
| Words: | 554 |
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