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Caterham and District Horticultural Society
ESTABLISHED 1886
www.caterhamdistricthorticulturalsoc.weebly.com
www.facebook.com/cat.hortisoc
Located in the shed on the allotments behind Avenue Road, Caterham Hill
Open Saturday mornings 9.30 – 12.00
May is the month of celebrations, blossoms, cuckoos, warm sunny days and gardens bursting with colour. Suddenly
the whole of nature is busy preparing for summer.
Control aphids, slugs, snails and weeds with pesticides, insecticides and biological treatment. Make sure that
tender plants are protected during cold, chilly weather. Weather patterns are changing all the time.
Clear away debris and old plants and prepare the ground for summer bedding. Add organic matter to the soil. Top
dress your borders with a good 3” layer of compost. Lawns - apply a combined moss and weed killer, a high nitrogen
fertilizer and regular weekly mowing. New lawns from seed or turf should be well watered.
Flowers
 Lift lily bulbs from the garden for tub decoration. When tulips are finished, lift them and heel in for bulbs
to ripen. Lift and divide overcrowded bulbs like daffodils.
 Remember to leave the foliage on all spring flowering bulbs until they turn yellow. It helps to store the
energy needed for next year’s blooms.
 Asters and chrysanthemums can be divided before they get too large. They can be made into bushy plants
by pinching the tips of the branches. Bushier plants will produce extra blooms.
 Stake tall herbaceous plants like delphiniums, phlox and peonies, and water and feed them weekly with
diluted liquid manure.
 Eliminate multiple shoots on roses and take action against pests.
 Dead-head pansies, viola and primula to encourage more blooms.
 Progressive sweet peas and climbers should be firmly supported.
 An application of bone meal should be given to irises.
 Nearly all hardy annual flower seeds should be sown now.
 All seedlings that have been hardened off could be put down towards the end of the month after frosty
weather is unlikely.
 In dry weather, water established plants and mulch them sufficiently to retain moisture.
 Keep collecting rainwater in containers, etc and use in dry weather. All newly planted trees, shrubs,
perennials and roses should be well-watered to prevent roots from drying out.
 Prune spring flowering clematis after flowering.
 It is time to harden off half hardy, plug and tender seedlings.
Vegetables and fruit
 Prepare seedbeds and cover with fleece or polythene to warm the soil before transferring seedlings.
 Harden off tomatoes, courgettes and pumpkins.
 Harvest asparagus, spring onions, spring cabbage, radishes, salad leaves, spring cauliflower and leeks.
 Earth up potatoes. Sow melons in a heated propagator/ greenhouse.
 Protect fruit and vegetable plants with enviromesh, fleece or polythene, to combat birds or carrot fly.
 Make sure bees and pollinators have access to flowers in cloches and cages.
 Successional sowing of broccoli, autumn and winter cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, spinach, beet, swede,
beetroot, kohlrabi, lettuce, peas, salad onions, and radish.
Greenhouse and indoor plants
 Remember to ventilate greenhouse/ conservatory on sunny days and increase the humidity. Check
seedlings for damping off. Give plants more space as they grow.
 Soft tip fuchsia cuttings can be propagated this month.
 Liquid feed plants that grow in containers and water regularly.
 Dahlias, gladioli, canna and summer flowering bulbs and tubers can be started off.
Plant sale Saturday 9th May 9.30 – 12.00
in the shed behind Avenue Road, Caterham Hill