Gardening in May is like putting a baby to bed…
You clean it up by removing all refuse, feed it to make it strong for cold months ahead, play around a while by planting something new, kiss it good night and cover it warmly with an organic blanket.
Must do for May includes the following:
Water and mulch (with acidic compost) camellias, azaleas, rhododendrons and magnolias.
The first spring-flowering bulbs should be up now. Water them well twice a week and start foliar feeding with a water-soluble fertiliser or apply specialised bulb food. Feed sweet peas every fortnight.
May is time to ensure winter protection is in place. Cover and mulch if not done yet.
Hardy winter flowering annuals must be fed twice a month with liquid fertiliser. Remove faded flowers regularly, especially from Iceland poppies, pansies and violas. Water during dry weather, doing this in the morning. You can still plant winter annuals for those areas needing some colour.
Sweet peas: Tie them to their stakes or trellis as they grow, and remove tendrils and side shoots so nutrients are not wasted on unnecessary growth.
Water the garden at least once a week.
Tidy up plants as they die down, removing old flower stems and dead leaves.
Mulch with compost and where plants were attacked by mildew during summer, spray thoroughly with fungicide.
Cannas: Once the foliage has died back, cut the stems down to ground level and cover the plants with a deep mulch of coarse compost to protect the rhizomes.
Dahlias: As soon as the foliage has died down, cut the stems down to 15-20cm. If the tubers are to be left in the ground in the summer rainfall areas, cover them with a deep mulch of coarse compost. If the tubers are to be lifted and stored for winter, they can be washed and stored in boxes covered with peat or sand and stored in the garage. Water lightly from time to time during winter.
Sow broad beans, radishes, spinach, peas, kale, broccoli, kohlrabi, cauliflower, leeks, cabbages, carrots and lettuce.
Roses: Keep on spraying against fungal disease.
Keep a sharp eye on aphids, which will be appearing on new growth, and clear up fallen fruit and old vegetable plants which have stopped producing. Continue spraying conifers against Italian aphids.
Enjoy the wonderful colours of your nandinas, acers and other plants which are specially planted for their winter and autumn colours.
Please send in your tips, gardening questions or before-and-after photos of your garden projects to reveshni@caxton.co.za to win a R200 plant voucher from Cycads for Pleasure.
