Planning, design and construction

• Check if the sand in the sandbox needs to be changed.
• Water in the garden gives life. Don't have a pond yet but want to build one this summer?
• If you're a sun worshipper, then you probably don't want a patio shaded by trees. Are you drawing a garden design now? Then carefully consider the position of the sun in relation to the garden. You can easily simulate what time of day the sun will be in the garden with the Sun and Shadow Simulation in our online drawing program.
• Do you have plans to dig in the garden, for example to plant a hedge? Check where the power lines for the garden lights are.

Pond animals are now active again

Planting

• You can sow the annual Poppy (Papaver). And if you have young planting material, you can transplant it.
• Annual plants can also be placed in the right spot in the border right now.
• Still want to transplant evergreen shrubs quickly? Water them well first and transplant liberally a day later. Move the shrub into a well-spaced planting hole enriched with compost or other fertilizer. Water liberally and continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Is the temperature already starting to rise? Then wait to transplant until autumn. Plants you buy in pots or containers can be planted for longer periods of time. Water generously even then.
• While planting annuals, it is wise to immediately mix fertilizer in the form of pellets, cones or tablets through the soil.
• Plant summer-flowering bulbs such as Dahlia and Anemone in the border or in a pot.
• You can plant summer blooms before the Ices, but watch out for possible night frosts. If necessary, cover them or put them inside temporarily.

Rhododendrons bloom beautifully in May

Maintenance

• Walk through the garden and check for seed pods. For example, from spent Lilacs and Rhododendrons.
• Remove the Lily Cocks from the Lilies; they can significantly affect the young plants.
• Check plant borders and perform maintenance. With a trident or cultivator and a bucket, you can very easily keep the top layer of your border loose and disrupt and remove weeds.
• Put support material in advance on perennials that may droop heavily.
• Plants that are still not doing it now unfortunately did not survive the winter. Remove these plants and put something new in their place.
• Perennials that have already flowered, such as Aubrieta, you can now tear to propagate them. Loosen the soil nicely and put back the young parts. Water liberally.
• Remove weeds between tiles.
• Sprinkle manure.
• Remove shoots growing along the trunk of your tree.
• Climbing plants are now growing like cabbages. Check them and tie the offshoots where necessary.

The Lilac is about to show its beautiful purple flowers

Care

• Water all the plants, trees and shrubs you have planted for several weeks.
• Protect young plants from snails, such as with eggshells or sawdust.
• Toughen up tub plants by placing them outside during the day and inside at night. Once the chance of night frost is gone, they can go outside completely.
• Is it dry all day? Then you can stain the garden furniture.
• Disconnect your downspout and place a rain barrel under it.

The fig bush is already budding well!

Pruning

• Most of your pruning work should have been done over the past few months. However, you can start pruning evergreen hedges such as Holly, Boxwood, Conifers and Privet.
• Prune preferably on a cloudy day.
• Remove the buds from the Fuchsia so that the shoots branch out.
• The Christmas rose now has spent stems; you can cut these off.
• The Ornamental Onions will now also have spent flowers. Cut them off as soon as they begin to dry and put them in a vase. They will stay beautiful for a long time.

Beginning flowering of the Cornus

The lawn

• By May, your lawn will really be experiencing significant growth. Now continue to mow regularly once or twice a week.
• Does too much water remain in certain areas? Stick a grass pricker or pitchfork into the turf in that spot so the excess water can sink back into the soil.
• The grass can be fertilized. Preferably do this just before it rains.

In May, your lawn will really grow a lot

Pond

• The fish in the pond get hungry and can be fed regularly.
• Cast a critical eye over the edge of the pond.
• Plant some additional aquatic plants such as lilies.

Weeding

• Remove emerging weeds immediately. This will prevent it from spreading.
• When weeding, be careful not to damage the roots of plants.
• Pull weeds from the joints of your paths or patio.

White flowering Clematis in a pot also needs handholds to grow upward

Pond or water dish

• The fish in the pond get hungry above ten degrees Celsius and you can now feed them regularly.
• If your pond is several years old, see if the aquatic plants are not crowding each other out. If they are, thin out some.
• Is it just still a little empty? Now is the time to plant Water Lilies.
• If you have a lot of algae in the pond, take some out. You can do this with a rake.
• Immediately clean the filter in the pond and the pump.

A drinking bowl in the garden: a desirable stopover for birds

Kitchen Garden

• If you started early, you can harvest lettuce, herbs and radishes right now!
• After IJsheiligen, or mid-May, you can sow many vegetables in the open ground, such as palm cabbage, zucchini, cucumber, endive, mangetout, turnip, arugula, chard, spinach and green beans.
• Now transplant the seedlings you had sown indoors and put them in larger pots or the full ground.
• Do you have a greenhouse? On warm days, the temperature is already rising considerably. Make sure you have plenty of shade near the greenhouse.

A strawberry plant can also be fine in a pot

For the animals

• Want to trim a hedge? Then check first that it doesn't have a bird's nest in it.
• For this reason, don't prune all the shrubs in your garden on the same day either. Birds like to shelter in hedges.
• Do you have some larger branches left over after pruning? Don't throw them away, but pile them up in a corner of the garden. Insects, hedgehogs and birds welcome this natural shelter.
• Set up a bird drinker where animals can drink and birds can take a bath.
• Do you have fruit trees and bushes in your garden? Bees now delight in the blooms of an apple, pear, cherry or plum tree, for example.
• No insect hotel in your garden yet? Place one immediately, preferably with the opening facing south and well sheltered. If possible, put or hang the insect hotel at least one meter above the ground.

Prunings make a nice shelter for animals.

Want to see other months' garden calendar back? Then take a look at the garden calendar year overview.