May Gardening Hints

On your vegetable patch, if you have got your potatoes going, now you must make sure you earth up the shoots coming through. The main purpose of this is to produce a heavier crop and prevent the new tuber’s breaking the surface and becoming green.
In the greenhouse give your plants plenty of ventilation and on sunny days you can bring out your plants to harden of, placing them back at night.

Pinch out the side shoots of your tomatoes as you stake them up. For cherry tomatoes why don’t you try the tumbling varieties which you plant 3 to a 14” hanging basket then just water and feed with tomato feed throughout the season with no pinching out of side shoots resulting in plenty of sweet tomatoes with very little effort.

During the 2nd week of May, it is the time to get your runner beans in. Prepare your site by introducing organic matter or well rotted manure to a prepared trench about 12” deep, keep moist at all times. Avoid adding feed with high nitrogen content. Best artificial feed would be superphoshate.

May is a good time to sow cabbages, lettuces, peas, radishes, salad onions, spinach, turnips, winter cauliflowers, carrots and to plant onion sets, shallots, cauliflower and brussel sprouts.

Also now is the time to plant out tender bedding plants or hanging baskets, it’s still too early to be certain of avoiding a late frost, I would suggest at least the 2nd week of May at the earliest.

Although May is probably the busiest month in the gardeners calendar, still find time to sit back and relax in your garden with the drink of your choice (mine being a nice beer at this time of the year) and enjoy your garden.
Source: Nigel, Art Nursery Garden Centre, Vicarage Lane sharing the benefit of his experience with the readers of North Weald Village Life.