What to do in your garden in May

May has come at last!

1. Keep weeding!

2. Plant Salad Leaves.

3. You can now be planting Chicory, kale, endive, beetroot, french beans, radish, beans, spring onions.

4. Plant Courgette's, squashes and marrows in pots in the green house.

5. Late frosts watch out! Make sure you are able to dash out at the last minute to cover any seedlings, cuttings, young plants etc up.

6. Revamp damaged or bald areas of your lawn by laying turf to get your garden looking it's best for the summer parties and barbecue's you are going to have. Also, mow lawns weekly to keep your lawn looking fresh, green and better than your neighbours. But try and increase your blade depths to 45-50mm to help prevent the grass needing too much water with the current hose pipe ban.

7. Time to deploy the pea sticks, its pea planting time!  Plating peas is really easy. Dig a trench 2 inches deep and 25 cm wide. Plant peas 2 inches part in a zig zag fashion along the trench. I like to plant peas in May as by now the soil is warmer; you could always try covering the soil to increase the temperature. Your peas will come through; I like to cover the young plants with sticks and thin branches preferably spikey ones to stop birds and my dogs from treading on the soil.

8. We should think about planting runner beans; it is normally warm enough this time of year. However, I have seen some very late frosts! Although I still grow mine in pots indoors. Growing runner beans brings back so many happy childhood memories for me so they are a must grow most years in my garden. I just find the beans themselves so magical. They are so easy to grow, and now I pop any left over plants in borders or against fences for those few extra beans and a little more greenery. Place 1 bean per plant pot 1.5 inches deep. After around 3 weeks they will be ready to plant out after popping them in a cold frame or porch for a few days to get them acustomed to outdoor temperatures.

9. Feed young plants.

10. Thin out vegetable seedlings.  By now you should all sorts of vegetable seedlings peering from the soil, so make sure you thin out to get maximum growth from each plant. Or our plant vegetable plugs.