11:20 - 11 May 2011
The May greenhouse is a busy one and chances are your greenhouse staging, benches and border soil are full to bursting already, especially if you have already been actively sowing and growing under glass.
But even if you haven’t started yet, or have only just got your greenhouse there are still plenty of things to sow and grow during May, in fact for some fair-weather gardeners May is the start of their season. Sadly they have missed the bounty of several months of growing, but many things will catch up and it’s better to start late than to never start at all. If you are really behind with your greenhouse plants such as tomatoes, chillies, cucumbers and melons you can catch up by buying ready grown plants at the garden centre or nursery, but there is no excuse next year. Growing your own from seed means you have a wider choice of varieties, you can grow more plants for less money and you’ll have plenty to swap with friends and neighbours.
For the perfect veg plot timing tender garden plants such as aubergines, runner beans, French beans, courgettes, Sweetcorn and more can all be sown during May and by the time they are large enough to plant out the last frost should have passed. Sow individual seeds into separate small pots or modules using a dedicated seed compost. They should germinate easily and quickly without basal heat. Keep the compost moist but not wet and ensure that your plants are protected from slugs and snail damage.
As soon as the roots start to poke through the bottom of the pots they are ready to pot on. By May they will be growing strongly with the warmer weather and longer daylight hours. Keep plants moist but not over wet to reduce the problem of fungus flies. Ensure that the greenhouse is properly ventilated and that there is good airflow between the plants to reduce the risk of botrytis and other fungal problems.
The May greenhouse is likely to be full of a variety of plants being prepared for growing outside, these include bedding plants, planted containers and hanging baskets being grown on in the protected greenhouse environment.
It should be home to a range of salad crops at different stages of growth that are developing and also ready for harvest.
The May greenhouse is full of developing fruit bearing greenhouse plants such as tomatoes, aubergines, peppers, cucumbers, melons and more which have been potted up and potted on into larger containers, growing bags and planters. These will be getting bigger as they mature and start to flower.
The May greenhouse may also contain permanent fruit plants such as peaches, apricots and grapevines growing in the greenhouse border or in planters. These will benefit from the warm greenhouse environment and will crop over the summer period.
Some plants such as strawberries can be grown in growing bags within the greenhouse and forced for an earlier crop.
The greenhouse is also the ideal place to grow on pots of more tender summer plants such as dahlia tubers, begonias, Canna lilies and other more tropical plants.
The May greenhouse is also home to a wide range of cuttings taken from summer perennials. These need to be protected and grown on in a warm environment and most will go on to flower this summer. Summer plants such as dahlias, fuchsias and pelargoniums will all be growing strongly and generating plenty of soft wood cutting material that can be rooted in cuttings compost and then potted up. This is a great way of bulking up your stock of summer flowering plants and saving money.
