Gardening – What to do in May

May is still a great time of the year to get stuck into the garden. The experts at Starke Ayres have some sound advice for you to ensure you’re on top of things in the garden this month.

• Sow sweet peas and choose between the tall climber variety, Multiflora or the dwarf type, Bijou. Bijou are very fragrant, easy to grow and a very good cut flower for vases or posies.  Sweet peas require full sun and with a little additional effort you can grow fantastic plants.

• Dig up Summer annuals and plant Winter annuals like Pansies and Violas. Do not forget the dwarf or taller wind resistant fragrant stocks or for the cut flower country gardener the Delphiniums, Foxgloves and Queen Anne’s Lace. In the shade where you previously had sun in Summer, dainty Primula’s, large flowering Cinerarias or Begonias will grow best.

• Prune Summer-flowering shrubs to prepare the plants for next year’s blooms. Once pruned feed with Talborne Certified Organic 2:3:2 fertilizer to ensure good winter root development for that expectant prolific Spring flush of foliage and bloom

• Prepare beds for planting Spring flowering bulbs – if you have a mole problem, buy some baskets to plant the bulbs in and then sink them into the ground. Plant with Starke Ayres “Sterilized” Bonemeal or Talborne Organic 2:3:2 to ensure good root set and bulb development.

• Clean up the veggie garden – Winter is the time for a vast range of veggies so prepare your vegetable beds with extra compost and a sprinkling of Talborne Organic 6:3:4. Plant Onions, Spring Onions, Carrots, Beetroot, Peas, Broadbeans, Spinach, Cauliflower, Brocolli, Brussel Sprouts, Rhubarb and Turnips. Add liquid organic water soluble fertiliser such as Starke Ayres Sea Secret or Seagro to feed lowering and fruiting veg.

• It is still a wonderful time of the year for planting trees, shrubs, perennials and groundcovers. Some fragrant shrub options are Murraya Exotica, Plumeria rubra, Gardenia augusta, Heliotrope arborescens and Brunsfelsia pauciflora.

• Bird attracting plants flowering at this time of year include: Leonotus “Wild Dagga”, Strelitzias, Salvias, Cape Honeysuckle, Plectranthus and Loniceras.

• Just unpacked: Exclusive new range of glazed and Terracotta pots at both branches.

FREE TALK:  Growing Winter Veg:  Wed,18 May at
Starke Ayres Garden Centre West Coast Village 10am-11am