What to sow & do in a May kitchen garden

There’s so much to do in a May kitchen garden! It’s all go here at Golightly Gardens, what with all the sowing, planting out, watering, weeding and feeding.

Here’s a handy guide to what to sow, grow and do in a kitchen garden, or on your allotment, this month.

What to sow in May

There are plenty of seeds that you can sow this month, so take your pick. In fact, it’s not too late to start an edible garden off completely from scratch in May, if you choose things that don’t need an extra-long growing season.

Some of my favourite places to get seeds and small plants include:

• Dobies
• Marshalls Garden
• RHS – good for ‘Garden Merit’ tried and tested varieties
• Suttons – lots of 99p seeds and handy advice for beginners
• Thompson & Morgan – all kinds of seeds, strawberry plants, fruit bushes etc

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Seeds to sow outdoors in May

You might need to sow some of these under cover for a little extra protection, so check the weather forecast where you are.

• beetroot
• broad beans
• broccoli (calabrese and summer sprouting)
• Brussels sprouts
• cabbage (winter types)
• carrot
• cauliflower
• chard
• chicory
• endive
• fennel (Florence/vegetable)
• French and runner beans (beware of frost)
• leaf beet
• lettuce and other salad leaves
• kale
• kohl rabi
• oriental leaves
• parsnip
• peas
• potatoes (maincrop and last early types)
• radish
• rocket
• soft herbs
• spinach
• spring onions
• sprouting broccoli (for next spring)
• swede
• sweetcorn
• turnip

You might also like to sow some seeds of companion plants, such as french marigolds, nasturtiums or basil.

What to sow indoors in May

• borlotto beans
• courgettes and summer squash
• cucumbers
• winter squash and pumpkins

Remember to check individual seed packets carefully before sowing, since ideal sowing dates can vary widely between specific varieties.

Garden jobs to do in May

It’s busy this month in a kitchen garden or down on the allotment. Here are some reminders of the most important garden jobs to do over the next few weeks.

1. Harden off more plants in May

Get indoor-sown plants ready to be planted outdoors, so they’re used to the temperatures outside. Put them outside during the day and bring them back in at night for 7 to 14 days.

Tender plants such as tomatoes and chillies often stop growing when the temperature is lower than 10 degrees C, so keep checking the weather forecast and bring them back indoors if necessary. There’s no need to rush.

2. Planting out in a May kitchen garden

• Protect hardier seedlings against late frosts using fleece or cloches.
• Plant maincrop potato tubers (and any remaining early potatoes).
• Plant out seedlings of Alpine strawberries, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, celeriac, celery, courgette, outdoor (ridge) cucumbers, Florence fennel, globe artichokes, leeks, pumpkins, summer squash, outdoor tomatoes, winter squash.
• Plant or pot up sun-loving plants in the greenhouse: aubergines, chillies, greenhouse cucumbers, melons, sweet peppers, greenhouse varieties of tomato.

Remember most tender seedlings should only be planted out once the risk of frost has completely passed (usually the last week of May in most areas of the UK). Keep some horticultural fleece handy to protect plants if the temperature drops sharply.

3. Care of vegetables in May

• Pinch out sideshoots on tomato plants that are cordon types (the long/tall vine varieties, also known as ‘indeterminate’ tomatoes). Don’t do this with bushy tomato plants though, or you’ll lose a lot of your crop.
• Cover vegetables with fleece or net after sowing or planting to keep out insect pests. Especially helpful for carrots and the brassica family.
• Earth up potatoes as they grow.

PG’s TIP: You can sometimes get tomato sideshoots to sprout roots if you put them in a glass of water on a windowsill indoors – handy if you’d like some extra plants.

4. Care of fruit in May

• Put a mulch of straw, landscape fabric or fibre mats under strawberry plants to keep berries off the soil.
• Remove a few gooseberries from bushes now to get bigger berries in June (the ‘thinnings’ are edible if cooked).
• Thin out overcrowded canes of summer raspberries, keeping about 6 strong shoots per plant.
• Protect fruit tree blossom from late frosts using fleece.
• Tie in healthy sideshoots of trained fruit trees.

5. Other garden jobs to do in May

• Ventilate your greenhouse, cloches or coldframes on sunny days.
• Add shade nets or mesh to greenhouses if there is a risk of plants scorching from bright sunlight.

6. Regular tasks to keep on top of in May

• Slug protection and other pest control
• Support plants as they grow
• Weeding
• Watering seedlings and new plantings

My May kitchen garden diary

We’ve had some sunny days here and there but I’m not rushing to plant out most of my seedlings too soon. I’ll be waiting until the temperature stops going below 10 degrees C at night, which will probably be around the middle of May here.

Our more permanent plants have been loving the sunshine and occasion shower, and we’re already swamped with rhubarb. The potted herbs, strawberries, currants and cherries are all growing strongly after a good weed and feed.

We’ve also seen plenty of bees and hoverflies, and a few rare butterflies so far. Happy pollinators make for a healthy garden, so I’m glad to have malvas, salvias, lavenders and more growing here too. Soon they’ll be joined by this season’s marigolds and nasturtiums.

One thing I’ll definitely need to do a couple of times this month: sequential sowings. A pinch of seeds here and there to ensure a regular supply of salad leaves, radishes, spring onions and so on. It only takes a couple of minutes, but the rewards are high once you fully hit salad season.

In the meantime I’ve potted on March’s tomato seedlings into bigger containers, and the April sowings of cucumber and courgette seeds are looking promising. We’re mostly concentrating on reliable old favourites this year, but I might pick up a few new and interesting seedlings at our local plant swap in a couple of weeks.

Enjoying this article? You may also like:

• What to sow & do in an April kitchen garden
• British seasonal food in May (what to pick this month)

That’s plenty to be getting on with, isn’t it? A little extra work this month often saves you a lot more time in June and July, so that’s something to consider.

Do you have any plans for growing your own this May?