Gloria's Glorious Garden – May

General Duities

Above, Gloria’s Glorious Garden and below her equally glorious vicarage.

• Staking is so important at this time of year when you can still see the boundary of the plants and predict where they might flop and restrict other plants and before they suddenly take off. Use whatever you can; stakes, pea sticks, plant holders etc. Sarah Raven uses silver birch and weaves it in, it looks divine!

• Tie in climbers; roses, sweet peas and all others. In particular clematis as growth has surges.

• Water greenhouses, conservatory plants and all pots outside. The winds have been drying and rain has been scarce. 

• Don’t forget about Flowerdew Friday, our dedicated plant feeding day.

•Freshen up pots by replacing the top two inches of compost with fresh.

• Check for pests! Aphids, sawflies slugs n snails and Lilly beetle. All these lurk around and can cause the
devastation of a plant.

• Weed if you still have the energy or the time catching them now will prevent seeds spreading. 

Sowing and Planting Out

• Keep sowing half hardy annuals and biennials, wallflowers, sweet williams and digitalis. 

• Direct sow zinnias, snapdragons etc all will flower till autumn.

Mandy’s Greenhouse is full of seedlings ready to go out into the big wide world.

• Plant out or direct sow french beans, squash, pumpkin. Repeat sowing lettuce, radishes and spring onions, basil, cut and come again salad and herbs.

• Harden off early sowings this helps to give strong plants. Pop them in a sheltered spot in the garden and cover at night with bubble wrap or newspapers.

Remember a small packet of seeds, price of a coffee, can give such pleasure and rewards!
Happy gardening, Gloria

Download Gloria’s Gardening Tips for May here
Download Gloria’s Sowing Tips here

A Note from Mandy
A huge thank you to Gloria for her tips over the year. She has a glorious large garden, woodland and orchard that she gardens all by herself with a little seasonal help. She is passionate about her plants and they keep her happy and healthy. I have a small plot in comparison with a small greenhouse but her ideas and notes have changed how my garden looks and how successful I am with the things that I grow.

My apple tree has never looked so good since I pruned it (at the right time) feed it and planted a clematis to wander through it.

I air my greenhouse daily, and spay mist all the plants especially my Peach tree as a result I hardly have green fly these days.

Did you plant your everlasting sweet peas, mine are off and rambling up some old sticks.

And did you get to see and smell any English Bluebells this year? Amazing, but remember only English ones smell, like heaven!