The sun has more power and with a bit of luck, the chance of a frost or cold spell is less likely. The garden has sprung into life, the chorus of mowers grows louder and everybody goes gardening.
Chelsea flower show is on TV, shops and garden centres are full of plants, all we need is some good weather.
This is good news for retailers and growers, the plants start to sell and the bank balance improves, May and June turnover is still vital to most nurseries and garden centres.
You will have lots of plants to choose from, sometimes too many, a little bit of forward planning will help
Remember to keep an eye on the weather. There is a wide range of plants in all shapes and sizes available, you should be okay to buy and plant them, but invest in some garden fleece to protect your plants we may still get a frost or bad weather.
Frost
Frost in now your enemy, once you could rely on the local weather forecasts to warn you, but in recent years I have found them to be unreliable and quite often misleading, they now give the temperatures for towns not rural areas this can give you a false sense of security. You need to learn to read the weather yourself look out for still conditions and clearing sky’s at night, if in doubt cover your plants with fleece
Tender plants
There are plenty of hardy plants on sale but often tender plants are sold with them and you need to be careful.
To help you we have split this month’s best buys into tender or hardy
Tender Plants
These are okay to buy but you need to be prepared to help them if the weather turns cold. This may just be covered with fleece, but some will need to spend some time indoors.
Plug plants
Baby bedding plants start to appear and can be very tempting. Once very popular they can be a useful alternative to buying a packet of…
Summer bedding plants
Summer bedding is the planting of short-lived but fast-growing plants to provide masses of colourful flowers or foliage through the summer. The plants are normally…
Summer patio pots and hanging baskets
The hardest thing about summer planters is deciding when to plant them, the spectre of frost is always there. If you have planters that can…
Tender vegetables
Tomatoes, peppers, chilli, cucumbers all need to be grown in a greenhouse, conservatory or plastic grow house. You can buy them now for planting later….
Hardy plants this month
Safe to buy and plant out.
Azaleas
Deep glossy leaves with stunning flowers in a wide range of colours, once an incredibly popular house and garden plant they are still grown in…
Pansy
So popular you can buy them almost all year round. Most pansies are grown from seed but they can be rooted from cuttings. pansy yellow…
Pieris forest flame
Often called forest flame, the young spring growth is brightly coloured. Everybody’s favourite, the bright red shoots are very seductive, most gardeners will have tried…
Rhododendrons
Stunning colours flowering in late spring in a wide range of shapes and sizes. They make good patio pot plants. Rhododenrons make great statement plants…
Spring Alpines
Alpines Spring flowering alpines, grown undercover to flower earlier than normal they can be a good buy, just remember they will flower later next year….
Sweetpea
Sweetpeas Not traditional thought of as a bedding plant, they are sold in large quantities so I have included them, they can be used to…
