In the Garden: May

Take cuttings of your favourite coleus plants, pictured, in case they don’t make it through winter. Keep cuttings in a glass of water with a few drops of Seasol added.Don’t add too much water to the glass. Cuttings produce their own rooting hormone, and too much water dilutes it and slows root development.

Rocket rockets to seed in hot weather, but grows steadily through the cooler months, for a spicy addition to salads, and pesto. Sow it where you want it to grow, scattering a seed-raising mix lightly over the seed and watering well.

Check indoor plants for mealy bug.You’ll find the fluffy white pests in hiding in leaf axils or at the very base of the plant. Wipe them away with cotton wool moistened with methylated spirits.If the infestation is serious, take the plant outside and spray with neem oil, or consider binning the plant and starting again.

Reduce watering of indoor plants as the weather cools. Water only when the mix is dry and light. Move any pots near heating outlets.

Collect fallen leaves to layer with green material in the compost bin.

Make a climbing frame for sweet peas in a sunny spot. Prepare the spoil with complete fertiliser and a sprinkling of lime and water well the day before planting so that the seed is sown into moist soil. Don’t water again until the seedlings germinate. Use twigs to help guide the young plants to their support structure. As sweet peas are legumes that capture nitrogen dig plants back into the bed once the show is over.

Check your garden’s bee-friendly credentials - provide sources of flower pollen and nectar, shallow fresh water, and nesting opportunities.

Replenish mulch to maintain soil warmth and maintain plant growth.

Move cymbidiums into a sunny spot and start a monthly fertiliser program to produce great flowering spikes in September.

Moving days are here. Now that the weather has cooled, it’s safe to move plants that are in the wrong spot. Deciduous plants are best left in place until they are dormant in winter.