Garden To-Do / May
Didn't it just suddenly turn cold? One day it was warm, the next warmish, and then the chill arrived, as if we skipped autumn and its berg-wind days and went straight to winter. The good news is that most of the winter preparation is done, so this month's list is short. Now is the time to sit back and enjoy your garden, and if you are feeling energetic, plant more annuals for a bright display that will last well into spring.
Mild, settled days with highs around 21°C and cool nights around 13 to 14°C. Growth has slowed right down, which means the garden asks far less of you, and of the tap.
May is usually the calmest month of the year here, a quiet gap between the summer easterlies and the winter fronts. Make the most of the still days; June's blows are not far off.
Rain comes in occasional frontal spells rather than steadily. With growth slowing and the wind resting, established beds need little extra water this month.
Reduce watering as the temperature drops, and add mulch. Keep the mulch away from the tree stem to avoid rotting.
Continue to wash salt spray off foliage after windy periods. Feed spring-flowering bulbs with bulb food and keep their soil moist. If plants are not doing well, the cause is usually poor soil: invest in a bulk load of compost and spread it over all planting areas. Do not dig it in, just lay it on the surface and let the soil life work it in gently.
Plant new petunias such as 'Queen of Hearts', 'King of Hearts' and 'Night Sky', with their bright contrasting stripes and dustings of white, purple, orange and yellow, they make a hanging basket pop. Gazanias and bokbaai vygies are also favourites now, both water-wise and hardy. Keep deadheading to encourage new flowers.
Plant now: beetroot, beans, broccoli, carrots, cucumber, cabbage, mustard greens, mint, peas, pumpkin, radish, spinach, thyme, tomato, zucchini, parsley, chives, garlic chives and rocket.
Service your lawnmower while it is quiet. Move established shrubs and trees to a better spot if needed, this is the month for it. And raise containers off the ground so they do not become waterlogged in the winter rain.
Indigenous plant of the month
A modest-looking groundcover with an outsized work ethic. The creeping foxglove forms a soft, spreading carpet of fresh green leaves, dotted over a very long season with small cream, foxglove-like flowers, each with delicate purple markings on the lower lip that act as landing lights for visiting insects. In a mild, frost-free garden like ours it flowers on and off through autumn and beyond, when little else at ground level is performing.
It is one of the best problem-solvers we know: it thrives in shade where lawns give up, copes in sun with a little more water, handles sandy coastal soil, and roots as it goes, knitting bare ground together quickly. It is also a proper wildlife plant, a host for several butterfly species, while the flowers feed bees and the insect traffic feeds birds, frogs and lizards. It is vigorous, so give it room or an annual trim to keep it where you want it, and it will reward you with green cover and flowers nearly year-round.
See you at the nursery,
Clint
The Farmyard Nursery
Need a hand getting started? WhatsApp us or visit the nursery, and we will point you to the right plants for the season.
