Turning my thoughts to the month of May made me pick up my quotation dictionary to remind myself of the complete words to the sonnet from which the line ‘the darling buds of May’ originates. It’s fitting that literature takes inspiration from the intrinsic beauty of the seasons and the garden.

May is a month of buds, seedlings and the sowing of annuals; of lighter evenings and moments sat in a sunny spot lost in thoughts. The atmosphere, as well as the earth, is ripe with expectation of a good summer and a fabulous display. It’s also about unwelcome pests, but more of that later.

So with May’s (hopefully) warmer weather and the extra time that a couple of Bank Holidays affords some people, it’s a good month for enjoying the garden whilst sorting a few tasks.

Sowing Annuals

If you have sown hardy annuals earlier on in the spring, you can put them out in the garden now.

Before you do so, dig over your soil to make it nice and crumbly and fork in some compost, and water your seedlings well. If, like me, you are still getting to grips with managing to sow seeds in the potting shed in good time then don’t despair as it is not too late. You can sow them directly into the ground.

If you take a stroll round Doddington Hall’s cutting garden (located in its walled kitchen gardens) you will see masses of self-sown seedlings that Rachel Petheram encourages to run amok to wonderfully wayward effect: cornflowers, marigolds, scabious and love-in-a-mist all mingle marvellously with edges blurred.

This relaxed approach actually means the earth ‘speaks’ to Rachel; when she sees this happening she knows the conditions are ripe for germination and can direct sow with confidence, a valuable insight indeed.

Hardy Annuals

Turn your thoughts to your half-hardy annuals as well. This year, why not try some pretty cosmos, zinnias and cleomes? They are all very easy to grow from seed and will flower until the first frosts. Sow them in trays under cover and plant them out when all risk of frost has passed.

Hanging Baskets and Herbs

Hanging baskets are popular with many people and can certainly perk up a porch or make a garage gorgeous. Plants like verbena, petunias and geraniums are lovely but why not consider some new ideas this year such as herbs like parsley or basil? This means you can use your hanging basket to the kitchen’s benefit as well. Tumbling cherry tomatoes would add colour as well as providing some lunch, or strawberries. Make sure the baskets are in a sheltered position and water well.

Whether the garden you tend — and all that hard work — is for yourself or for thousands of visitors, it will still give you hours of pottering pleasure. The work of one Lincolnshire head gardener, Jon Lawrence, results in a lot of enjoyment for many people.

Jon works at Doddington Hall where Rachel is based, except he is responsible for the seven-acres of walled and wild romantic gardens whereas florist Rachel’s flowers are in the cutting garden.

Late May sees the iris season — one of the Hall’s garden annual highlights — in full swing but he still has to ensure that everything else is helped towards its best. There’s no rest for the wicked, or the gardener.

The War on Weeds

In Doddington’s walled West Garden the irises peak in late May so extra effort is given to make sure the box parterres that ‘contain’ the irises are looking neat and weed-free for the hundreds of visitors that will come and see them.

Weeds are best tackled regularly throughout the summer, with a sharp hoe and plenty of time.

If, like me, you hate weeding nearly as much as you hate ironing then the solution could be ‘little and often’.

Just fifteen minutes every evening must be better than a whole afternoon or morning of valuable weekend leisure time spent cursing each and every unwelcome weed? This is what I am trying to do this year.

A Busy May

Aside from hoeing, other jobs you can expect to see Jon carrying out in May include grass cutting and edging.

His advice for great lawn mowing is very simple; start by ensuring that your mower is serviced and blades sharpened. Your first cut of the year should have the blades set high, then lower them gradually as you move through summer. After mowing, Jon will tidy the lawn’s edges with shears.

‘Look after your tools,’ he tells me; buy the best you can afford, and keep them sharp. After each use, clean them and spray a little WD40 on all moving parts. A thrifty tip from Jon is to keep the oil from your lawn mover service for this purpose. Also this month, Jon will be removing spring bedding plants such as wallflowers and replacing them with blue heliatrope, salvia farinacea and senecio cineraria.

Preventing Pests

When the garden is full of so many lovely things and when the expectation of colourful abundance is around the corner, it is a shame to think of the pests that are looking to feast like lords on the fruits of your labour.

Adult lily beetles feed and lay eggs on the underside of leaves of lilies and fritillaries in the spring. The eggs hatch after approximately one week and the larvae can be found feeding on the foliage during May. One way to deal with this is to pick off the larvae and squash them, although that is a grim job if, like me, you quite literally can’t hurt a fly. To continue the cheery theme of pests, you also need to be ready for aphids in May as young tender growth is vulnerable to aphid attack.

These tiny insects (1-7mm long) are usually green or black and breed fast, smothering the plant.

Natural predators such as birds, earwigs, ladybirds, lacewings, hoverflies, ground beetles, spiders and parasitic wasps are allies when it comes to tackling aphids. Small clusters of aphids can be squashed with your fingers or washed off with a strong jet of water.

Funny how Shakespeare doesn’t mention garden pests in his sonnet. Perhaps the ‘darling buds and irritating lily beetles and aphids of May’ would have affected the gentle timbre of his work and didn’t have quite the same romantic ring?

Rough winds may have shaken those darling buds in the early 1600s but if the playwright had wanted to add in some gardening advice he could have mentioned that an eager finger or a strong jet of water was capable of shaking the pesky aphids as well... I think you missed a trick there, Mr Shakespeare!