May Gardening Tips from Barnsdale Gardens
May Gardening Tips from Barnsdale Gardens: The Barnsdale Gardens team absolutely love their gardening jobs in May…why? It’s a Bloomsplosion…thats why! May is basically the garden’s version of a rock concert—flowers are bursting out like confetti. The gardeners get front-row seats and backstage passes.
It’s prime planting season! Veggies, perennials, annuals—everyone’s getting invited to the soil party. It’s like speed dating with trowels. Read on for tips from the team on a super spring spruce-up!
May Gardening Tips from Barnsdale Gardens
1) Snip, Dip, and Grow – Penstemon Cuttings
Spring’s got the plants strutting their stuff, which means it’s snipping time! Grab some 8cm (3″) soft tips from your Penstemon stars, strip off the lower leaves (like a plant spa day), snip just below the lowest joint, then dip the end in some fancy rooting gel. Pop those babies into an 8cm pot of compost, give them a good drink, and bag ’em up in a mini plastic greenhouse. Root party incoming!
2) Posh Parsley Transplanting
Take your plug-grown parsley and give it a proper upgrade—into a 12cm or 1-litre pot it goes! Think of it as moving from a tiny flat to a roomy apartment. Let them bush out nicely, then onto the windowsill they go, ready to be snipped into soups and sandwiches like home-grown herbal royalty.
3) Swede Dreams Are Made of This
It’s swede time—but fashionably late, to avoid mildew mayhem. Into the brassica zone they go, in shallow drills spaced 45cm (18″) apart. Once the seedlings pop up, thin them out to 30cm (12″) apart to give each swede plenty of room to bulk up into glorious veggie giants. No one wants a cramped swede.
4) Onion Army – Planting Out Time
Our seed-grown onions are boot-camp ready. Armed with a string line and a planting board, we’re lining them up 15cm (6″) apart on the allotment. Neat rows. No stragglers. Onion discipline is key.
5) Dahlia Detour – Greenhouse to Tunnel
Sunshine’s tempting us to go full summer mode—but we’ve learned our lesson. Dahlias are getting a slow and steady hardening-off routine, moving from the cosy greenhouse to a breezy polythene tunnel. It’s like plant yoga—building resilience before their grand outdoor debut in a couple of weeks.
6) Beet It
Last year we were fashionably late with the beetroot but this year, thanks to sunny and dry weather we are perfectly on track! We’re sowing now and keeping fleece or cloches handy for any surprise cold snaps. Sometimes you’ve just gotta sow and hope for the best. Beets, don’t fail us now.
At Barnsdale, May is more than just a month—it’s a full-blown garden festival, and every gardener’s got a VIP pass.
There’s plenty to see and do all year round at Barnsdale Gardens!
For the latest industry news visit landscapingmatters.co.uk/news
Get all of the big headlines, pictures, opinions and videos on stories that matter to you.
Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for fun, fresh and engaging content.
You can also find us on Facebook for more of your must-see news, features, videos and pictures from Landscaping Matters
