May is the last time to plant tulips for a spring display. Select a sunny spot or find a shallow pot and plant them tips pointing upwards 3cm below the surface of the soil. Water with liquid bulb food and wait for them to shoot. When they are 10cm high, water again with the bulb food.
Rake up the autumn leaves and pile them up surounded by a circle of chicken mesh. Leave them to decay for 3 months and then add them to your gardens soil at the end of winter. Free organic mulch!
Plant Plectranthus 'Mona Lavender' in areas under trees with root competition and low light. Its beautiful lilac purple flowers will flower all autumn and winter long. The flowers match the purple backed leaves perfectly.
Autumn is the best time for planting as you can take advantage of the still-warm soil to establish trees and shrubs before the onset of winter. Remember good soil preparation is key to a long-living trees. Take full advantage of the warm soils and plant a a glorious autumn coloured tree, to give to summer shade and winter sunshine. Make sure you check the mature dimensions of your tree, and make sure there is enough air room to it to grow into. Don't think you can prune it to fit the space!
Make a new vegetable garden and plant winter vegetables : cabbage, cauliflower, beetroot, spinach, leeks, broccoli, onion, broad beans and peas. Plant onions, shallots now. Also carrots, beetroot and lettuce.
Bring Cymbidium orchids into more sunshine and feed them to encourage a better flowering display. Pictured Cymbidium 'Clarisse Austin'
Plant out Heliotrope 'Cherry Pie' for a delicious scented small shrub. Pictured above in lilac.
Plant bulbs in pots and garden. Try daffodils, anemones, ranunculus, freesias, sparaxis, ixias and hyacinth. Plant poppies, pansies, primulas and polyanthus in the garden and in pots. Window boxes are good especially for polyanthus.
Once flowering has finished, allow dahlias to die off before you cut the foliage. Once the leaves have completely died off you can cut them, lift the tubers and store in a dry place over winter. Dust with a fungicide to prevent rotting.
Keep deep watering roses with seaweed solution to encourage late blooms. Its too late to feed them now but you can spray with a foliar seaweed solution. Also spray foliage with Rose Shield for Black Spot. The yellow rose pictured above is called Graham Thomas and the orange rose is 'Pat Austin'.
Deep water all citrus with seaweed solution to provide enough moisture for the fruit to form. Keep citrus sprayed with Pest Oil or try the new Eco-oil to discourage citrus leaf miner. Feed each tree once in autumn, then again in winter.
Harvest herbs before winter, dry them and store in glass containers go crazy making pesto and freezing batches of it for use later on when basil has died off.
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