Isn’t this the best month of the year! The greens are so vibrant, and make a stunning backdrop for all the other colours appearing. The wisteria, tulips, Chinese redbud and creeping phlox have burst into flower, whilst growing up through them all are the lupins, astrantias, and echinaceas. Then there is the patio and cold frame that is filling up with the seedlings and cuttings, everywhere you look plants are growing.
One of my favourite views in the garden must be of bluebells.
Oh and of course we have RHS Chelsea Flower Show and gardens opening across the country for inspiration this month.
My Purple Sensation alliums are budding up but I think it may be a poor year for them in my garden this year.
They have been multiplying for the last 4 years, so maybe it is to do with the dry summer / autumn we had. I’m loving the creeping phlox in the garden and decided I needed more to balance out the purples/ blue’s in my spring garden so phlox McDaniel’s Cushion has been added.
My garden is never the same two years running and that is the aspect every gardener loves, constant change and learning from it. Not so much of the alliums and forget me nots this year but a sea of bluebells instead.
May is the month the bedding plants arrive in the garden centres, and the sooner you purchase them the better. I’m gradually getting better at not waiting until July to purchase mine, as I can guarantee you the stock will be minimal by then. I love Cinderella stocks, even though I’m attempting to grow some from seed, a load jumped into the trolley on my last visit to Longacres and I’ve planted them up by my front door, so the scent can greet us every time we come home. The ones currently in flower I bought in autumn and they have flowered for the last 6 months.
Now the soil has warmed up, I can at last try some Nematodes to tackle my vine weevils. I must admit I’ve put off tackling them due to not having a rose on my watering can, but seeing the state my rhododendrons are in, I’ve bitten the bullet and nematodes and watering can have been purchased.
It is great to see the Neudorff VineWeevilFree nematodes in stock at Longacres. These don’t have to be stored in a fridge and are viable for 6 months, so I’m hoping I can do a few treatments over the summer and reduce the damage.
Monty Don recommends a great way to get inspiration for your garden is to visit as many gardens as you can. From there you can see which plant combinations you like, and which you don’t, as that is just as important. You can then bring those ideas home, purchase the plants and replicate them in your own garden. The National Garden Scheme (www.ngs.org.uk) is a fantastic way to get out and see what is going on in other local gardens to you and worth visiting to speak to local gardeners about what works for them in their gardens. I’ve been lucky enough over the last few weeks to visit Exbury Gardens, Wakehurst, and Munstead Wood and I can’t wait to visit more gardens over the next few months.
With our gardens becoming more important for providing habitats for wildlife, I’m trying to encourage hedgehogs into the garden. They need shelter, food, water, access, and a safe environment. The garden seems to be pretty hedgehog friendly we have good access and a hedgehog home which we bought from Longacres a few years ago, but it seems this is still untouched, although I do have to hope we provide enough shelter in our boundaries that they might choose somewhere more natural.
They need shallow water to drink from so we purchased an Elho pot tray and we planted some cabbages in my wild area as caterpillar’s love eating the cabbages and hedgehogs can eat up to 200 caterpillars a night. I’m hoping the pigeons will leave them alone for long enough for them to grow, although they have had a bit of a feast already, now they are planted I’m hoping it will take them a while to find them again.
I’ll just tell myself it’s still helping the wildlife and keep my fingers crossed we one day see a hedgehog in the garden.
