KEY TASKS THIS MONTH

  • Deadhead, and snip the old flower at the bottom of the bloom to encourage more growth and spray your roses to ensure health
  • Begin to feed and “pinch” your tomatoes plants, by pinching the old stem you will encourage the growth of 2 new stems
  • Feed your basket and containers
  • Continue to water your lawn especially if newly seeded or cut
  • Prune spring-flowering shrubs
  • Keep the pond clean- make sure to keep “blanket weed” away!
  • Clip evergreen hedges
  • Keep bird bath topped up to encourage wildlife into your garden
  • Keep an eye on garlic and onions as they will be ready to be picked soon

PREP
It's also important to prepare your garden for the month ahead, here are some key tasks to get you started:

  • Continue to clear out weeds where needed
  • Get rid of dead perennial leaves, if you haven't already done this, you can use a rake to pick them all up, this enables new growth and healthier soil!
  • Continue to add the right compost to your garden, at Upcountry we have all the composts you may need whether that's ericaceous, multi purpose, tomato planter, john innes(1,2,3 and seed sowing compost)..
  • Find and use the right fertilizer for your trees, shrubs and perennials


WHAT TO PLANT THIS MONTH

  • Continue sowing salad crops, like beetroot, lettuce and radish
  • If you have veggies which you have sown indoor earlier in the season, you can now begin to plant them outdoors
  • If you have forced strawberries indoors, plant them outside
  • Move outdoor melons under cloches, pinching out the growing point to encourage growth
  • French beans are best sown in rows
  • Broccoli can now be sown
  • Early June is your last time to sow pumpkins

PRUNING
Pruning and training your plants is a vital step towards achieving a beautiful garden! Over the winter months your plants have definitely overgrown or got damaged, so for healthy future growth it's important to prune!

  • Deadhead rhododendrons
  • Tomato plants will now begin to show their first flowers, once this starts happening you should begin to feed them
  • You can begin to prune some fruit trees like plum and cherry trees
  • Clip evergreen hedges
  • Twining climbers will continue to need regular tying and twinning around


GARDEN MAINTENANCE

Maintenance is vital for your garden. It's important to keep on top of jobs and keep your garden looking to the best of its ability!

  • You will need to stake certain plants like dahlias and lilies to protect them from potential strong winds damaging them
  • Make sure to use eye protectors on your canes or stakes for children's safety
  • Lawn edging - is a stylish and effective way of keeping your borders tidy
  • Cut down hedges not only for the look of them but also to encourage healthier growth
  • Put netting around your fruit plants to keep birds off
    Liquid feed containerized plants every two to four weeks.


WILDLIFE

It’s a great time to encourage wildlife into your garden using some tempting treats, but also it’s important to watch out for them eating your crops or damaging the health of your plants and flowers!

  • Keep feeders well stocked up! Whether it's fat balls or just seeds, most types of bird feed will encourage birds into your garden!
  • Build an insect box! These can attract insects such as ladybirds which actually feed off insect pests!
  • Try using home DIY’s to attract bumblebees
  • Attract butterflies to lay their eggs by leaving an area of longer grass

PEST CONTROL

  • Try to not leave food or crumbs around to keep ants away!
  • Make sure rubbish bins are sealed
  • Look out pests on veggies like cabbage worms and asparagus beetles