Tips for May 2025

Place pheromone traps in apple and pear trees to monitor attacks from codling moth that cause “maggoty” fruit.

Plant up hanging baskets and containers with bedding if you have a bright, frost free place to keep them until they go outdoors.

Continue successional sowing of crops such as beetroot, carrots, lettuce and radish to extend the season.

Earth up potatoes once the stems are 20cm tall, draw soil up to form a ridge along the row. This protects shoots from frost and excludes light, which turns potatoes green and inedible.

Pot grown Cannas and Dahlias can be hardened off gradually ready for planting out at the end of the month. Add plenty of compost or well rotted manure  water well and mulch to help retain moisture.

Trim early spring shrubs like Forsythia, Ribes, Kerria after flowering to give them maximum time to regrow and flower well next year.

Weed and apply a straw mulch around strawberry plants. Cover the plants and gooseberries as well as currants with netting after flowering. The net should be taut and without tears, so birds do not get trapped inside.

Check box plants regularly for evidence of damage from box tree moth caterpillar (webbing and defoliation). Remove any caterpillars that you spot by hand or use a biological control.

After flowering finishes, prune Clematis Montana.

Harvest rhubarb from established crowns as stalks reach 23-30cm. Pull do not cut stalks. Do not harvest rhubarb from newly planted crowns for the first two years.