Gardening in May
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Warmer days are here, and what could be better than spending more time in the garden? The sounds, the smells, the feeling of grass under your feet and dirt in your hands. There are a number of physical and mental benefits of gardening, find out more what gardening can do for you in our guides:
Bedding Plants
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You can turn your beds and pots into a riot of colour with the right plants, with warmer weather to help them grow fast. Always plant a good block of plants together so that they really stand out, allowing them a little room to grow. Petunias produce a multitude of flowers, and they are really not hard to grow, they like sun, and will flower for you all summer. It’s also a good time of year to plant dahlias, dianthus, osteospermums and fuschias.
Pot of the month
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For a long-lasting pot plant, why not combine a cordyline with a heuchera and a carex? All of these plants are evergreen, and come in a variety of colours and sizes – you won’t have to do anything to it and it will look good all year round.
Perennials and Shrubs
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Why not think of planting some flowers that bees love, there’s nothing better than the sound of bees going about their work? Nepeta or catmint is easy to grow – put a group of three or four together, and they’ll soon be covered with lilac flowers and bees! Other plants that bees love at this time of year are lupins and poppies – they are easy to grow and come back year after year.
If you want all year round colour in your garden, plant an euonymus – it’s an evergreen plant, that comes in a variety of shades of green and yellow. They grow to a height of about one metre, and you can build a bed around them.
Fruit and Vegetables
Our potato guide will tell you all you need to know about growing spuds, which are as easy to do in a pot as they are in the ground.
Now is also a good time to get some fruit bushes in – plant some raspberries now, you’ll get a reasonable crop in the first year, and good crops every year after.
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About
The potato is a cool-season vegetable that ranks with wheat and rice as one of the most important staple crops in the human diet around the world – especially Ireland! So why not start your own homegrown supply? Potatoes withstand light frosts in the spring and can be grown throughout most of the country in the cooler part of the growing season.
There are more than 100 varieties of potatoes. White-skinned (Queens, Home Guard) and red-skinned (Roosters). Garden varieties offer better taste, texture, and cooking quality for home use.
