The lazy gardener's guide to May
Giving you more time to enjoy the fruits of your labours. By Pattie Barron
● Sow pumpkins, cucumbers and courgettes. Simply push the big, fat seeds into soil or compost without further fuss – just one will yield many fruits. If you’re short on space, grow baby pumpkin Munchkin over an archway or let plants weave their way through the border. Courgette Midnight suits containers; cucumber Passandra fruits outdoors.
● When frosts have safely passed, plant out summer bedding. Easiest are pelargoniums, New Guinea busy lizzies, osteospermum, Lantana camara; violas are best for shade.
● Plant up super-useful mint in a pot or, better yet, plant a variety in several pots, side by side. Look for apple mint, with its furry, tactile leaves; classic Moroccan mint, which is best for tea; and chocolate peppermint, with dark leaves and a scent of After Eight!
● Lift blanketweed out of the pond by gently swirling it around a broom handle.
May project: build sweet-pea towers
Buy an eight-pack of mixed baby sweet pea plants and two long U-shaped bamboo canes. Push one cane into the ground or a compost-filled pot, then push in the other one over it at right angles. Plant seedlings where the canes meet the soil and protect from slugs and snails with a circle of shells or grit.
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