Super Garden judge explains the essential gardening tasks to do before May ends

RTÉ Super Garden judge Brian Burke explains the essential tasks that all gardeners should do during the month in May, in order to keep their garden looking beautiful

Now that a heatwave is on the way, many of us will be more motivated to get out outdoors and do a bit of gardening.

There’s nothing nicer than sitting outdoors with a cup of tea and admiring all of the flowers, shrubs and plants you’ve nurtured – but maintenance is essential if you want to keep your garden looking well all throughout the summer months.

Here, we chat to Brian Burke, a landscape contractor, garden designer and RTÉ Super Garden judge, about the essential gardening tasks to complete in May.

There are a few gardening tasks Brian advises everyone to do. “After the last frost, plant out summer bedding and tender annuals, including sunflowers, cosmos and nasturtiums.”

Spring shrubs such as forsythia should be pruned after flowering to keep them compact, he adds.

“Keep an eye on snail populations by going on regular evening patrols, especially during damp weather. Sow batches of salad leaves every few weeks for continuous pickings. Start sowing dwarf and climbing French beans, as well as runner beans, directly outdoors as the weather gets warmer.”

For those with a greenhouse, they should water thirsty crops such as tomatoes, cucumbers and courgettes regularly and tie in stems to canes as needed.

“Apply nitrogen-rich summer lawn feed to encourage leafy growth. Hoe bare soil and hand-weed beds regularly, so weeds don’t have a chance to establish.

“Watch out for aphids on tips and foliage, wipe them off or spray with a soap-based solution as needed,” Brian says.

More generally, Brian advises people to think carefully about the type of garden they want before planting anything.

For people who want a low-maintenance garden, Brian says choosing three or four colours to work with is a good option. “Different shades of greens, whites, mauves, lilacs and purples can work. It’s amazing how many evergreen, woody shrubs and trees will fit that bill.

“They won’t require a huge amount of intervention. Evergreen Portuguese laurel, evergreen box, evergreen mahonia and viburnum. This can be peppered with a few simple shrubs like hydrangea paniculata, agapanthus and salvia nemorosa.”

For those who want lots of colour, Brian says a deeper, broad herbaceous border can work. “Herbaceous planting is planting that has no permanent wood structure. It flowers every spring and summer then dies away, then returns again the following spring and summer. Herbaceous perennial planting can provide colour in the garden.”

• To see more of Brian’s gardening advice, check out Woodie’s Facebook, IG: @woodies_ireland and TikTok: @woodies_ireland.
• RTÉ’s Super Garden airs every Thursday on RTÉ One at 7pm.

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