Seeds will be slowly unfurling, young plants stretching into growth and fruit flowers blooming. What a great time of year to be outside! When the risk of frost has fully passed (which is usually around mid-May but will depend largely on your location) there’s plenty of planting out to do, and some lucky growers may even be enjoying the first asparagus spears or lettuce leaves of the season.
The Herb Garden
Soft, new growth is excellent material for the kitchen, so take harvests from your leafy herbs now, and either freeze, dry or make into herb butters to make them last longer. You can also take softwood cuttings of many herbs now, such as thyme, oregano and lavender. Pinch out once rooted to keep bushy.
Container growing
Keep an eye on watering this month – we can experience very warm days in May that will dry out smaller pots in a flash.
Begin feeding potted crops with a dilute liquid fertiliser this month, unless your compost contains additional nutrients.
This is a key time for pot-grown fruit. If plants are flowering or setting fruit, it’s crucial that they have enough moisture right down at their roots.
If making some late spring sowings, line your containers with polythene and add eco-friendly water-retaining granules so you’re not tethered to the tap all summer.
Seasonal tasks The vegetable patch
Weeds will be popping up left, right and centre this month given half a chance – stop them in their tracks with some deft hoe work at the seedling stage. Crops direct-sown in March will be establishing well by now. Thin them out to ensure that those remaining have room to grow. Sow squashes and sweetcorn now. Just use one seed per pot – they’re so large that emergence rates are usually 100 per cent. Large, clear plastic bottles make excellent cloches for young transplants, and mean plastic is reused rather than thrown away. The first harvest of broad beans will be ready this month. Pick while the pods are still small to enjoy this crop at its best. Asparagus spears will be pushing through the soil thick and fast this month. Cut all of them, fat and thin, to encourage the crowns to produce more. Spring cabbages and lettuces will be hearting up now. Squeeze their centres to check for readiness – you want a firm, not spongy feel. Continue ‘earthing up’ your potatoes, by periodically drawing the soil around them using a hoe to cover the new, emerging shoots poking their heads through. It’s a great time to sow runner beans. Do this under cover at the beginni
