The Merry Month of May

Drifts of May blossom petals scatter over the paving, the scent lingering in the air and the satin flowered Welsh poppies are lit with a golden glow, filling the garden with welcome colour. So much to enjoy in the month of May.

My Clematis montana “Elizabeth” scrambles right to the top of the fruit trees and cascades beautifully overhead.

The “GoldenShowers” rose has a few lovely blooms but it’s already suffering from the dreaded Black spot, a fungal problem. I try to remove the affected leaves as cleanly as I can so as not to spread it. I prefer not to spray as I have been managing the garden organically for about twenty years. It’s a good system and doesn’t harm any essential insects or other creatures.

Some pretty things to enjoy in our garden right now.

Leaves are pleasing too. The ivy is fresh and green, the acers have lovely shapes and I found a curiously coloured leaf on the ground.

My peonies are not flowering yet but have some buds. Some gardeners are alarmed when they see ants on their peony buds but they really do no harm. The buds exude a sugary substance which the ants lick. They don’t damage them in any way and usually disappear once the flower opens. You can see the sugar oozing from the bud in my photo.

I love fresh mint at this time of year. My favourite is apple mint but I also have spearmint and chocolate mint. I don’t use the chocolate mint for anything but it’s a pleasure to rub a leaf and catch that delicious scent of chocolate peppermint.

The apple mint I like to use for mint sauce. It’s really good with new potatoes and so easy to make. I freeze small containers of it to use in winter. When it thaws, it tastes exactly like freshly made and it also keeps well in the fridge. It tastes so much better than those jars of mint sauce to buy in the shops. Homemade isn’t heat treated and has the most wonderful flavour. If you’d like my recipe and full instructions, it’s available in my Earthy Homemaker’s Cookbook. If you don’t have the cookbook, just chop the washed mint leaves or put them in the food processor and add malt vinegar and sugar. Just enough vinegar to cover, then sweeten it to the level you like.

The strawberries are flowering well so there should be a good crop again. My favourite fruit and a real treat fresh or made into jam. I also freeze a lot of surplus berries and cook them with some sugar for dessert in winter. Delicious warm with ice-cream or cold with Greek yoghurt.

I give the beds a fresh layer of homemade compost in early Spring after removing any dead foliage and then mulch around the plants with coir. I buy coir bricks and soak them to reconstitute, then spread it between the plants to keep in moisture and help to prevent mud-splash on the fruit.

The “Spring Hero” cabbages are always good. They grow slowly over the winter in the polytunnel then put on a spurt in February when the daylight increases. I feed them once with comfrey pellets and although I only grow a few there still seems to be a surplus because they mostly mature at the same time. The heads are substantial and although they’re so tasty and tender we don’t want cabbage every day. I gave two away so that someone else could enjoy them.

I sowed runner beans in the greenhouse in plugs. They’re germinating nicely. In about ten days it will be safe to plant them out in the garden. Although there has been little frost this Spring, I’m not taking chances. They’re sensitive to cold and will quickly grow when the nights are warmer.

I haven’t been able to do as much in the garden as I need to so I started knitting. I’m making a jacket with tweed yarn. It’s a mixed yarn with some wool in it, in a nice shade of steel grey with tweedy flecks. A pleasant way to occupy time if I can only sit for a while.

With you again in a couple of weeks. Enjoy this wonderful month while the weather is warm and inviting. Bye for now.