Continue planting your spring-flowering bulbs. Water the bulbs deeply and be sure that they never dry out completely, as this will stunt and or damage the growth, be sure to feed fortnightly with a bulb food or organic 3:1:5. Keep feeding fading bulbs to boost them for the next season.
Water shrubs and plants with shallow root systems, like annuals and bulbs as well as azaleas and camellias, during the dry months that lie ahead.
Be sure to Dead-head winter-flowering annuals to encourage further flowering. Continue planting winter-flowering seedlings like Pansies, Violas, Poppies, Primulas, Calendula, Stocks, Sweet Peas, Cineraria, Primulas and Primroses, to offer that winter color spray. Also feed them fortnightly with seedling food or liquid fertiliser, allowing them to put on there best show. Be sure to Mulch well.
May is still the perfect month for planting roses. Come spring they will have settled and you will be rewarded with strong growth and beautifl blooms. Come visit us here at Tuingenoot and pick your favourites from our wide variety.
If you are planning on planting and transplant trees, vines, shrubs and hedging this is the best month to look at doing so.
Take cuttings of plants like fuchsias, heliotrope and daisy bushes and soft sappy plants like impatiens and plectranthus which are intolerant to the cold weather, that lies.
Prune back your plectranthus after flowering, and use the clippings as cutting material to grow more plants (but be sure to put them in a protected area, as they are tender to frost)
Aloes will add warmth and vibrancy to your winter garden, plus they’re waterwise and very easy to maintain. The added bonus is that they’re on promotion at Tuingenoot right now, waiting to be planted into your beds, rockeries and containers. The added bonus is that they will attract your nectar loving birds ie our beautiful sunbirds.
Bring colour indoors with flowering indoor plants like Cyclamen, Chrysanthemum and beautiful Phalaenopsis and Cymbidium orchids. Feed once a month with a liquid plant food for indoor plants. Feed orchids in flower with a specially formulated orchid food that is available at Tuingenoot.In the Vegetable Garden
Remove all the last of your spent summer veg and plant Swiss chard, leeks, brassicas, peas, winter lettuce and oriental greens.
Thin out your seedlings that were sown and feed them with an organic seedling food or a water-soluble fertiliser. Mulch well to keep their little roots warm.
May is a good time to lift, divide and replant your perennial vegetables like lemongrass, chives and artichokes.
Look at planting strawberries they are a great addition to have in the veg garden and are going into their fruiting season be sure to mulch them well.
Feed vegetables with an organic fertiliser, look at either flower power or gwano pellets. You can also use a liquid feed like seagro.
Cabbages are prone to aphids. Spray preventatively with an organic aphicide, neem oil is a great choice. look at interplanting with Sage to deter white fly and Calendula, pennyroyal or chives to repel aphids.
Keep a close eye for signs of cutworm especially around your young vegetable seedlings and place bait if necessary.
Sowing Guide
Flowers look at planting the following: African Daisy, Calendula, Diascia, Namaqualand Daisy, Nemesia, Pansies and Sweet Peas.
Vegetables look at plating the following: Broad Beans, Onions, Peas, Chinese Cabbage, Winter Lettuce, Mustard, Oriental Greens, Radish, Swiss Chard and Parsnips
Herbs you can look at: Rocket and Coriander
Although it is a little too late to look at sowing as many varieties of flowers, herbs and vegetables at this time of year, hardened-off winter seedlings are available in the nurseries to be planted now.
In General
Change the settings on your irrigation system to suit the temperature and rainfall for autumn.
When to water: You should look at watering between 9:00 and 13:00. If you have automated irrigation, set the times accordingly.
Keep Deadheading your rose bushes and spray fortnightly with a fungicide to combat black spot.
Our average first date for heavy frost in Gauteng is the 19th of May so be sure to stock up on frost protection fleece or hessian in time to protect tender plants. Move sensitive potted plants to your more protected spots.
Water the garden early in the day and mulch generously around all plants to protect their roots. Always leave some space around the stems of plants when mulching to prevent disease, and potentially stem rot. Feed with an organic 3:1:5 fertiliser to strengthen cell walls and control evaporation.
Be sure to Spread a layer of acid compost around Camellias and Azaleas and keep them moist to prevent bud drop.
Mow your lawns on a higher setting this allows your lawn to still supply itself with enough food during the winter months as the growth has started slowing down. be sure to water if dry. Do a last overseeding with evergreen, cold tolerant lawn seed.
Start collecting all the fallen autumn leaves and use as a mulch or add to the compost heap. Alternatively collect all your leaves in black plastic bags and leave to decompose into wonderful compost. Be sure that you don’t use diseased leaves though.
Clean up under hedges also loosen the soil to expose insect amd or pests which may be sheltering there.
Indoor Plants
As days cool down, indoor plants will need less watering and can very easily become waterlogged. Keep an eye on them and allow the surface of the soil to dry out slightly before you look at watering them again. Do the finger test: stick your finger in the soil up to the first joint and if it feels moist, wait a bit longer with watering.
Oh Happy Happy Gardening 
