What a month May was! May always feels like gardening is coming alive. The start of events and shows – including Chelsea Flower Show – appear to give out inspiration for the year, and kick start the urge to get outside as much as possible. The sunshine also came, which was very much welcome, and I started to see glimpses of plants to soon come. A lot of my flowers started showing off their buds, which to me is one of the most exciting parts of gardening. What’s yet to come.
While I’m still feeling awfully behind garden-wise, I’m certainly making moves in the right direction. Once again I’ve promised myself to start my seeds earlier next year. I said the same last year, and either didn’t manage it, forgot when I’d started, or didn’t move early enough. Of course, I didn’t have the benefit of a decent sized greenhouse. So next year we shall see.
This May was the first month I’ve started to think about how I’m supporting my plants. Sounds a bit dramatic, but it’s not that. I’ve never built a plant support. Not a proper one anyway. I’ve dabbled with very poor teepees for my sweet peas. But they’ve always been very hit and miss. Every visit to them has been full of worry that I’ll find them flat on the floor. But this month I’ve dived into the craft of plant support making, and I’m so impressed (if I may say so myself).
I had several support attempts. One was using a plastic kit that’s fairly cheap. It came with separate poles to build as high or wide as you need, and the attachments. While very easy to put up, it did seem a little flimsy. I was also a couple of poles down by the time it made it to the allotment; I had a little fan of them at home, so they had to be collected from their hiding spots before I left. but no bother – I just replaced a few with my shorter bamboo canes, and I think it probably also helped a bit with the flimsiness. I also added my own diagonal canes for extra support and that helped a lot. So I’d recommend this kit, but with additions at home.
The second I tried, and by far my proudest, was my support made completely using bamboo canes. Any avid gardeners will probably be reading this with their heads in their hands, feeling second hand embarrassment for me. But I was so impressed by how sturdy these supports are. To build mine I first laid the vertical poles, spacing them out in a line of pairs. I then tied the pairs together at the tops so I had a row of pointed arches. I then laid a single can along the tops, resting it in the ‘V’s of the vertical rows. This is the basic shape, but there’s one more step that makes all the difference. I strengthened the structure by tying two more canes, this time diagonally across the vertical ones. A simple step, but one that makes all the difference. I made a ‘medium’ one for my sweet peas, then ended up making a second one even taller for some runner beans.
Once the supports were up, the first seedlings made their way to the allotment, and in the dirt I’ve been digging since winter. To keep up with the negative outlook they did seem a little puny for seedlings to be planted out. But I half just want to get something growing, and half needed the pots for the other seedlings in my trays. Plus I have so many of so few things, it’s time to start the circulation of crops.
The first thing in the ground this month was sweet peas. On my newly erected cane support, of course. If you’ve seen on my Instagram, you’ll know I plant my seeds in toilet roll tubes to protect the roots. This is the great part – you can plant them in the ground still in the tubes, you don’t need to faff taking them out. In between every few sweet peas I also planted some ‘Tom Thumb’ nasturtiums. These are a dwarf variety, so I’m hoping they’ll create something pretty at the ground level, while the sweet peas grow upwards.
Then on my smaller supports I combined peas with dwarf beans. The dwarf beans don’t really need supports, but it seemed somehow a good idea to mix and match. Then I added more nasturtiums to hopefully help with pest control. And look pretty.
The hot weather started enticing the first batch of flowers in the garden at home. In my garden it was the usual suspects. My Spanish Iris’ came first, this year having increased to eight stems from the one I started with two years ago. They just appear every year and they are really stunning. My plan is to add more bearded irises to my garden in the future beyond the purple and yellow I already have. The only downside is how quickly they disappear and leave behind empty stalks to go brown.
Foxgloves also appeared, another one I don’t recall planting. I’m surprised at how tall they grew, even having to be given a support for the tallest ones. Lavender came out in green buds ready to turn purple in June, and the cosmos continue to grow in the greenhouse. Although no sign yet of needing to be pinched, so they’re a slow grower for me. On the other hand, I gave my Elysium Magenta a Chelsea Chop, the first time I’ve attempted it. It took a little bit of self-hyping to work up the courage to slice off its blooms. But already it seems to be coming back stronger, so we’ll see.
May has certainly done its job of raising my spirits for gardening to come this Summer. This is the time of year that I also get excited for the future of my gardening. I can’t help but look at other people’s progress now and think ahead to next year. To me, now is a perfect time to start thinking about it while you can see how everything is doing. I make a note, and set a mental note of the plants I’d like to see blooming this time next year, rather than what I want to plant.
