Nature Will as Nature Wants; – Your May Garden Checklist

I never fail to marvel at nature. Of course we can aid our plants by providing exciting designs and by feeding, (I find April/May and August feeds to be most beneficial), weeding and pruning (no short back and sides please, just a trim after flowering) but at the end of the day, ‘nature will as nature wants’.

We are not in control of the finished product, as there is a grander plan. It is this mystery that I find very appealing. In most things in life I am in control, but the mantle is taken from me in gardening and I have to learn to live with the results. To be honest, I am generally pleased with end results but of course there are times when I’m not all together happy. C’est la vie!

Given favourable conditions (pay attention to providing such conditions), things happen quite quickly in the garden. As an example, some weeks ago while teaching a class I showed the participants the peach tree growing in my greenhouse. On that Saturday it was just a nice tree in the corner but by Monday it was laden with developing fruits. A remarkable transformation in less than 48 hours. I eagerly await the ripening of these fruits and will then have something else to marvel at.

Speaking of speed: for days I ambled down the garden to look at the ridges into which I had planted my onions and early potatoes. I had seen emerging plants in others gardens but not a budge in mine. How embarrassing it would be if the ‘gardener’ couldn’t grow her own veg! Anyway, after what seemed like weeks, on returning from a night away, I went straight down to see my ‘babies’ and there they were, at last.

The slight increase in temperatures (at last) added momentum to the garden. The blossoms on my fruit trees seem to be more vibrant than usual. My Coronet (miniature) apple trees are laden with flowers as are my pear and fruiting cherries. Let’s hope that we do not get frosts later in May, as late frosts can destroy a fruit crop. Fingers crossed, I’ll be eating, like Eve, from my own trees this summer. Try growing some fruits in your gardens – even dwarf forms are rewarding.

Central to most gardens is of course, the lawn. Be sure that you feed it (as a hungry lawn is a mossy lawn) and above all, do not mow it too short. A treatment of GreenForce Lawn Gold will be very helpful.

Provide the essentials for your garden and then leave the rest to nature.

Happy Gardening!

Anne.

May Garden Checklist:

• Prune shrubs that have completed flowering for this season.

• Spray roses against greenfly and black-spot.

• Remove suckers from rose bushes.

• Clip hedges.

• Feed lawns and treat weeds in your lawn.

• Kill moss in lawns using Lawn Gold or use a scarifier.

• Make softwood cuttings. These should be 4 inches to 6 inches long.

• Plant summer bedding plants when fear of frosts has passed.

• Sow wallflower seeds for next year.

• Sow winter cabbage seeds.

• Remove side shoots from tomato plants.

• Feed tomato plants with every second or third watering.

• Trim winter and spring flowering heathers.

• Keep vegetable garden weed free.