The Garden Professional - Brighton gardener
May has been a mad month for most with the advent of warm wet weather EVERYTHING has gone mad! The thing is each year we act all surprised and act like its the first year our gardens have taken off growing so quickly!
Its the last week in May as I write this and its a wonderful time to be in the garden (providing you haven't ignored your garden, else you might be calling me up to help with your garden maintenance!) There is something quite amazing about the smell of a freshly cut lawn..Ive been gardener for 12 years now and still the smell of a freshly cut lawn is one of the most amazing smells. This smell is only just beaten by THE most amazing smell in the world - Wisteria!
Wisteria is out in bloom and what a joy it is not only to see it wrapped around fences, walls and pergolas but the scent is heaven sent (almost a pun there!) Its such a shame that this amazing plant is only in bloom for a limited number of weeks. Always makes me feel good with the world when I smell it. Anyway moving on to tips and things to be looking at doing over the next couple of weeks..
Feed for the lawn - Its an excellent time to feed the lawn with a high nitrogen feed. I recommend Chempak® High Nitrogen Feed - Formula 2 as it really is an excellent lawn feed better than most other products. (Dissolve 4oz in 2 gallons of water per 16 sq. meters)
This is now a great time for having hanging baskets, it doesn't matter if you have a fantastic 5 acre garden or if you live in a flat - hanging baskets bring pleasure to all. Even those anti garden types love to see colour and scent.
So for a good hanging basket use a good quality compost and add a slow release fertiliser along with some water retaining crystals. This will encourage really good growth and make care for the basket flowers easier over thee coming months. Plant close to the sides and remember to dead-head any finished blooms to encourage flowers to keep blooming!
Remember to keep earthing up potatoes and picking asparagus heads (no longer than 20cm high) and pick Rhubarb but only a third of the stems to protect their growth. And finally for this post if you are growing Strawberries then its time to put the straw around them to protect the fruit as it grows - hence their name!
In my next post I will be addressing what to do in the garden in June and how to grow potatoes easily in bags!
So until then this is the Sussex Gardener on behalf of The Garden Professional signing out and off to play in the garden!