Garden Update | May 2020

Thankfully people read my April garden update because I enjoyed writing and reading back on it before I wrote this post. May was glorious weather wise so we were able to spend many hours outside in the garden. Gardening, enjoying the sunshine and sitting with a glass of wine in front of our new fire.

The most exciting development in the garden this month was getting an outdoor tap fitted. Previously I was trailing inside with a watering can which wasn't very efficient. So I've been happily watering my garden with ease this month.

In the borders only the roses are flowering but I have been able to start planting things out from the greenhouse - the marigolds, sunflowers, poached egg plants, nasturtiums and borage I spoke about last month are all now growing bigger. The dahlia I bought a few years ago started growing so I've put them back in. Over the winter I remove them from the ground and keep them in some dry soil so they don't rot. I originally bought one plant but it's since been broken up into at least 4 off shoots.

 

Just last weekend I cleared out the space under the tree so I'm looking for recommendations for plants that will be happy in this shady area. My hosta which is has been happily growing here for couple of years has grown all its leaves in just three weeks.

My vegetables are growing well too - the onions are enjoying the container and the beetroot that I planted out at the start of the month are also getting big and finally the peas are starting to grow up the frame I made and flower.

Over this past weekend I've been doing some general maintenance on this area. Using a borrowed edging tool to make the grass neater and I'm trying to encourage the sweetpeas to grow up the back wall. The ground is full of routes so I can't really plant anything.  

Last year I didn't try any vegetables in the borders but this year I've planted out several courgette plants. I'm having to battle the slugs and some are growing better than others but hopefully they all get there. My dad also dropped off two squash plants which are growing in a container but I'm not sure it will be warm enough for them. 

My obsession for growing things from seed isn't going anywhere either - in fact I've bought some new seeds I spotted in home bargains for just 29p. Some striped petunias, nigellas and aquilega (which should like that shady point) - they've all sprouted and hopefully they can go outside without long. I tried some chilli seeds left over from cooking which have come up and I did some more reading about the celosia I planted last month and I think I did it wrong so I'm trying some more. They don't need light to germinate - who knew?

I hate to be that person but the garden really needed the rain today so I'm quite happy. If you want to check out my last garden update I've linked it here: April 2020.