General Gardening
•Dead-head winter-flowering annuals to encourage further flowers. Continue planting winter-flowering seedlings like Pansies, Violas, Poppies, Primulas, Calendula, Stocks, Cineraria, Primulas and Primroses. Look at feeding them fortnightly with seedling food or liquid fertiliser. Also add a good layer of mulch, this will keep their roots warm during the cold months that lie ahead.
- May is the perfect month for planting roses. Come spring they will be settled and you can expect to be rewarded with strong healthy growth and lovely blooms.
- May is the month to plant and transplant trees, vines, shrubs and hedging plants. The still temperatures are ideal as it puts less strain on the plant.
- Aloes will add warmth and vibrancy to your winter garden, plus they’re waterwise and very easy to maintain. We stock a wide variety waiting to be planted into your beds, rockeries and containers.
• Bring colour indoors with flowering indoor plants like Cyclamen, Chrysanthemum and beautiful Phalaenopsis orchids. Hyacinth bulbs can also still be planted in pots on a bright window sill from where they will lend fragrance to any room. Look at feeding them once a month with a liquid plant food for indoor plants. Feed orchids in flower with a specially formulated orchid food.
Sowing Guide:
• Flowers: Look at planting thongs like African Daisy, Namaqualand Daisy, Pansies, Calendula, Diascia, Nemesia, and Sweet Peas for color are ideal to plant this month.
• Vegetables: Things like your Broad Beans, Onions, Peas, Chinese Cabbage, Winter Lettuce, Mustard, Oriental Greens, Radish, Swiss Chard and Parsnips.
• Herbs: You can plant, Rocket and Coriander.
In General:
• The average first date for heavy frost in Gauteng is the 19th of May so stock up on frost protection, fleece or hessian to protect tender plants. Move sensitive potted plants to a protected spot.
• Water the garden early in the day and mulch generously around all plants to protect roots. Always leave some space around the stems of plants when mulching to prevent disease. Feed with an organic 3:1:5 fertiliser to strengthen cell walls and control evaporation.
• You can spread a layer of acid compost around your Camellias and Azaleas, keep them moist to prevent bud drop.
• Mow lawns on a high setting leaving a little more leaf blade, as surface growth is slowing down, and water if dry. Do a last overseeding with evergreen, cold tolerant lawn seed.
FOR THE BIRD LOVERS
• Feed the birds more regularly as their natural food sources are starting to run low. Look at including suet in your feeding programme to provide them with a source of fat and energy.
• Invest in plants like Wild Dagga and Aloes for nectar-feeding birds and wild grasses for seed-feeder.
