Garden calendar May

Planning, design and construction

• Check whether the sand in the sandbox needs changing.
• Water in the garden brings life. Don't have a pond yet but want to build one this summer?
• If you are a sun worshipper, you probably don't want a terrace shaded by trees. Are you drawing a garden design now? Then carefully consider the position of the sun in relation to the garden. You can easily simulate the time of day where the sun will be in the garden in our online drawing program with the Sun and Shadow Simulation.
• Are you planning to dig in the garden, for instance to plant a hedge? Check where the electric cables for the garden lighting are located.

Pond creatures are now active again

Planting

• You can sow the annual Poppy (Papaver). And if you have young plant material, you can plant it out.
• Annual plants can also be placed in the right place in the border right away.
• Do you want to replant evergreen shrubs quickly? Water them well first and then transplant them a day later. Move the shrub to a well-spaced planting hole enriched with compost or other fertiliser. Water generously and keep doing so for the next while. Is the temperature already starting to rise? Then wait until autumn before transplanting. Plants bought in pots or containers can be planted for a longer period. Even then, water generously.
• When planting annuals, it is a good idea to immediately mix fertiliser in the form of pellets, cones or tablets into the soil.
• Plant summer-flowering bulbs such as Dahlia and Anemone in the border or in a pot.
• You can plant summer-flowering before the Ices, but watch out for possible night frosts. If necessary, cover them or put them inside temporarily.

Rhododendrons bloom beautifully in May

Maintenance

• Walk through the garden and check for seed pods. For example, from spent Lilacs and Rhododendrons.
• Remove the Lily cocks from the Lilies; they can seriously damage the young plants.
• Check the plant borders and carry out maintenance. With a trident or cultivator and a bucket, you can easily loosen the top layer of your border and disrupt and remove weeds.
• Place support material in advance on perennials that may droop heavily.
• Plants that are still not doing well now have unfortunately not survived the winter. Remove these plants and put something new in their place.
• Perennials that have already flowered, such as Aubrieta, you can now divide to propagate them. Loosen the soil nicely and put back the young parts. Water generously.
• Remove weeds between tiles.
• Sprinkle manure.
• Remove shoots growing along the trunk of your tree.
• Climbing plants now grow like cabbages. Check them and tie off the shoots where necessary.

The Lilac is about to show its beautiful purple flowers

Care for

• Water all the plants, trees and shrubs you have planted for several weeks.
• Protect young plants against snails, for example with eggshells or sawdust.
• Harden off tub plants by placing them outside during the day and inside at night. As soon as the chance of night frost is gone, they can go outside completely.
• Is it dry all day? Then you can stain the garden furniture.
• Disconnect your downspout and place a rain barrel under it.

The fig bush is already budding well!

Pruning

• Most of your pruning work should have been done in the past months. However, you can start pruning evergreen hedges like Holly, Boxwood, Conifers and Privet.
• Prune preferably on a cloudy day.
• Remove the buds from the Fuchsia so that the shoots branch out.
• The Christmas rose now has spent stems; you can cut these off.
• The ornamental onions will also have spent flowers now. Cut them off as soon as they start to dry and put them in a vase. They will stay beautiful for a long time.

Cornus starting to flower

The lawn

• In May, your lawn will really grow a lot. Now keep mowing regularly once or twice a week.
• Does too much water remain in certain places? Stick a grass pricker or rake into the lawn in those places so that the excess water can sink back into the soil.
• The grass can be fertilised. Preferably do this just before it starts raining.

In May, your lawn will really take off

Pond

• The fish in the pond are getting hungry and can be regularly fed.
• Cast a critical eye over the pond's edge.
• Plant some extra aquatic plants such as lilies.

Weeding

• Remove emerging weeds immediately. This prevents them from spreading.
• When weeding, be careful not to damage plant roots.
• Pull weeds out of the joints of your paths or patio.

White flowering Clematis in a pot also needs a foothold to grow upwards

Pond or water dish

• The fish in the pond get hungry above ten degrees Celsius and you can now feed them regularly.
• If your pond is already several years old, check that the aquatic plants do not crowd each other out. If this is the case, thin out a little.
• Is it just a little empty? Now is the time to plant water lilies.
• If you have a lot of algae in the pond, remove some. You can do this with a rake.
• Immediately clean the filter in the pond and the pump.

A drinking bowl in the garden: a sought-after stopover for birds

Kitchen garden

• If you started early, you can harvest lettuce, herbs and radishes now!
• After IJsheiligen, or mid-May, you can sow many vegetables in the open ground, such as palm cabbage, courgette, cucumber, endive, mangetout, turnip, rocket, chard, spinach and green beans.
• Now weed out the seedlings you had sown indoors and put them in larger pots or full soil.
• Do you have a greenhouse? On warm days, temperatures are already rising considerably. Make sure your greenhouse is sufficiently shaded.

A strawberry plant will also do fine in a pot

For the animals

• Want to trim a hedge? Then first check it for bird nests.
• For the same reason, do not prune all the shrubs in your garden on the same day. Birds like to hide in hedges.
• Do you have some larger branches left over after pruning? Don't throw them away, but pile them up in a corner of the garden. Insects, hedgehogs and birds welcome this natural shelter.
• Set up a bird feeder where animals can drink and birds can take a bath.
• Do you have fruit trees and bushes in your garden? Bees are now happy with the blossoms of an apple, pear, cherry or plum tree, for example.
• No insect hotel in your garden yet? Place one right away, preferably with the opening facing south and well sheltered. If possible, place or hang the insect hotel at least one metre above the ground.

Prunings make a nice shelter for animals.

Want to see the garden calendar for other months? Then take a look at the garden calendar year overview.