May is such a beautiful month. There’s so much promise in the air with flowers bursting open and plants putting on growth spurts as everything warms up. It’s a time to stand back and appreciate how the garden is taking shape. Are there spaces that you want to fill? There are plenty of flower fruit or vegetable plants that might fill that space. And plenty of garden stalls and shops that might have some different and exciting plants to try. Mix things up a little and see what does well. It may be the year that you edge beds with strawberries and have runner beans climbing up sunflower stems.

Get planting

If you sowed seed in the last couple of months, then you will have lots of small plants in pots at this stage. Some will be big enough to go out into their final planting position, while others may go into larger containers, or a holding bed, until space clears. Make sure each plant has enough nutrients to keep it growing well. This may be a case of digging some compost or manure into garden soil, or it may be using a liquid feed on plants growing in containers. Good preparation is the key. If plants are given the nutrients that they need, then they will be able to perform to their best ability. Remember that brassicas, peas and beans all like a bit of lime on the soil to balance out some acidity.

Climbing beans

Get young plants in the ground as soon as the last frost is passed. A bit of compost in a trench is all the feed that they need, since they fix their own nitrogen. Water well if the soil starts to dry out. All climbing beans need good supports. This can be as simple as strong string tied between a stick in the ground, at the base, and the frame of a greenhouse or polytunnel at the top. You can use bamboo canes or straight hazel poles, or you can grow them up netting stretched over a frame. A trellis against a wall will work too. The bean stems naturally twist anticlockwise around the support and hence grow upwards. They made need directing towards a starting point when they are small, but once they are growing well, they find their own way. Make sure your frame doesn’t lead to congestion at the top if all poles meet at one place. You will find it hard to find beans among the leaves and moulds proliferate if air can’t circulate.

Climbing beans can be grown up strings stretched to the frame of a polytunnel.

Courgettes

These plants are easy to grow. Just dig a hole and add a bucket of compost in the base. Top off with soil and plant the young, healthy, courgette plant in the middle. Use a stick to mark the planting point – it may be easy to see now, but can soon be lost as leaves grow and the plant
spreads. Put a bag, or a box, over the top if nights are cold and protect from slugs if there are lots of these creatures about. Plants can flower in May and, if plants are big when put in the ground, you might even get small fruits before the month is out.

Get courgette plants in the ground if you want early fruits.

Brassicas

Brussels sprout plants that were started early in March, may be big enough to go in an outdoor bed now. Guard against root fly by planting through 25cm squares of polythene and make sure the ground is damp. Put a stick next to each plant. You will need stronger supports as the plants grow, but for now you can tie stems to the sticks if needed. Broccoli, kale and cauliflower seed sown in April, will have pushed up small sturdy seedlings at this stage. These need more room to keep growing well. Move them out of crowded pots and plant them 10-15cm apart in deep trays or containers. You can also plant them out in a finely raked seed bed – plant more than you need to make up for any losses. Young plants can stay in a deep container until they are around 20cm tall, at which stage they can go into their final planting position.

Columbine (Aquilegia)

I love these delicate flowers. They add flutters of colour to the May flower bed. The easiest to grow are the common purple ones – these seed themselves and spread freely to establish new perennial clumps around the garden. There are also more unusual colour combinations of reds, yellows, creams and paler blues. Look in any garden centre and you should find some. If not, then save the seeds from a ripe seed pod and grow them on. They may not produce flowers that are exactly the same as the parent, but it’s fun to see what colour combinations do come.