Allotment & Gardening in May: Growth in Full Swing

May is a fantastic month for gardeners and allotment holders, as everything truly comes to life. The days are longer, the temperatures are warmer, and the risk of frost is mostly behind us. This is the time when your early efforts start to pay off and your growing space really begins to transform.

Allotment Tasks to Tackle in May

May is all about keeping momentum. If you haven’t already, it’s not too late to sow a wide variety of crops directly outdoors. Plant hardy vegetables like carrots, beetroot, radishes, and turnips straight into well-prepared soil. It’s also a great time to sow runner beans, French beans, courgettes, pumpkins, and sweetcorn outdoors now that the ground is reliably warm.

If you’ve been nurturing seedlings indoors (like tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers), begin hardening them off by gradually introducing them to outdoor conditions before planting them out towards the end of the month. Herbs like basil, parsley, and coriander can now safely be planted outside too.

Regular weeding, watering, and mulching are important tasks this month. As plants surge in growth, weeds will too—stay on top of them early to avoid bigger problems later. Adding a layer of mulch around your plants will help conserve moisture and reduce weed competition.

What to Grow and Harvest

May is a prime sowing and growing month, but you might also start to see the first rewards of your earlier work. Early crops like radishes, lettuces, spinach, and spring onions will be ready to harvest, giving you a fresh supply of food straight from your garden or allotment.

Strawberries will soon start ripening, so keep an eye on them and consider netting your fruit to protect it from birds. Tie in the new growth of raspberries and blackberries, and thin out seedlings that were sown directly to give each plant the space it needs to thrive.

Planning Ahead

With the growing season in full swing, it’s a good time to think ahead to the summer months. Succession sowing—planting new batches of crops every few weeks—will help ensure a continuous harvest rather than everything maturing at once. Keep sowing salad crops like lettuce and rocket to enjoy fresh pickings all summer long.

It’s also a good month to think about pest protection. Keep an eye out for signs of slugs, aphids, and other garden pests. Using natural deterrents and companion planting strategies can help you manage pests without reaching for chemical treatments.

May is a truly rewarding month—one where your efforts are visible and the promise of summer abundance is just around the corner. Take the time to enjoy your growing space, get stuck into planting, and nurture what you’ve started.

Here’s to a thriving May in the garden!

Recommended Video

Looking for ideas on what to sow in May? Our friends from GrowVeg talk you through what to plant this month. Dont forget to give them a like and follow!