With the arrival of May comes a reassurance that I love; a time when sub-zero temperatures are banished from the garden and woolly jumpers are packed away. Windowsills and greenhouses heave with tender plants that seem desperate to get outside, stretch and enjoy the passage into summer.
Don't miss our suggestions of the best flowers in May, what gardens to visit and the gardening jobs for the month.
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What to sow and plant in May
What to sow and plants out in the garden in May
Repeat sowing: carrots, tender beans, salads, carrots, radish
Seed sowing in the greenhouse has started to slow down, as now many crops can be sown direct into the soil outside. I repeat sowings of salads and roots, such as carrots and radish, to continue the supply, while sowing or planting out tender beans including borlotti, edamame and French. Benjamin Pope
Plant out summer crops: tomatoes, sweet potatoes
Summer-loving crops, such as celeriac, tomatoes and sweet potatoes, leave the greenhouse and are planted into beds or containers. BP
Pumpkins
I like to plant our squashes and pumpkins among sweetcorn, incorporating Amaranthus ‘Autumn Palette’, Persicaria orientalis, Tagetes ‘Cinnabar’ and Tropaeolum majus. By summer the patch is full of foliage and colour that gets better as harvest approaches. BP
I love growing climbing beans. Some of my favourite cultivars include ‘Blue Lake Stringless’, ‘Monte Gusto’, ‘Cobra’, and the marvellously named ‘Lazy Housewife’. With their different-coloured blossoms they bring some visual interest to the kitchen garden. They don’t take up much space, are easy to grow, and yield generous crops. It is worth waiting until May to sow them as they do much better in warm weather. Start them off inside and by the time you have good-sized plants to put out, the danger of cold nights should have passed. I sow into extra deep plug trays, one seed per plug. These give the plants enough room to grow and the extra bit of space means they won’t come to any harm if the weather turns cold and you have to wait before planting out. Keep moist, but be careful to avoid overwatering as beans are prone to rotting off. While they’re growing, prepare the supports, which need to be good and sturdy. I use a combination of poles and good strong brushwood pea sticks, using tarred twine to pull the pea sticks together into a kind of tepee shape. When you plant out, water well (and keep watering) and be ready with the organic slug pellets. Aaron Bertselsen
Companion planting
If space is at a premium, try a tumbling tomato mixed with Tropaeolum minus ‘Ladybird Rose’ and Thai basil. All suited to container growing, they’ll look good all summer while providing something to taste.
In the borders, seed-grown antirrhinums, cosmos and scabious are planted to fill gaps, while containers hold nemesias, salvias and verbenas. For foliage fillers, I love to use scented pelargoniums such as ‘Pink Capricorn’ or the silvery Helichrysum microphyllum ‘Silver Mist’ and Plectranthus argentatus. Experimentation is key and this year I’m including the cascading Dichondra ‘Silver Falls’, with floriferous perennials such as Verbena ‘Bampton’. Here's our guide to companion planting
Here's the best flowers for May