Time to clip…
May is definitely a month for plenty of garden activity, so fingers crossed for good weather, grab your tools and let’s get out there:
Prune
- After flowering cut back any early flowering shrubs such as forsythia and flowering currant
- At the end of May trim box for shape and keep an eye out for the dreaded and hyper efficient box moth caterpillars. They need to be removed immediately and you’ll need to keep an eye on your buxus, as they will keep appearing
- Pinch out fuchsias to make them bushier
- Cut back any dead wood on Japanese maples to new wood
- Remove any dead heads on rhododendrons and azaleas
- Clip ground cover plants to remove old foliage
- Check for birds’ nests before pruning shrubs and hedges and leave them until later in the season as necessary
- Remove any unwanted side shoots from grape vines
- Cut back spreading and trailing plants.
Lawn care
- Time to get the mower out? If you’re able to do No Mow May, brilliant. However, many people are finding they need to do one mow in May, as the weather has meant they couldn’t mow in April, and their lawn is already too overgrown to leave it any longer. If you can leave it after this first cut, the wildlife will appreciate it
- Apply a fertiliser to established lawns, if you haven’t already done so
- This month is the last chance for sowing a new lawn.