- EP328 What To Sow In May & Other Gardening Jobs : May Sowing Guide

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May can feel like a green light to sow everything, but this year’s real challenge is timing: warm, bright days can turn into near-freezing nights, and that swing can knock seedlings back fast. We talk through how we’re reading those changes in air and ground temperature, why it matters for germination, and how to make calm, sensible decisions in the veg garden and polytunnel rather than racing ahead and paying for it later.

From there, we build a practical May sowing list that mixes quick crops with long-range planning. We cover brassicas like cabbage, calabrese and broccoli, including when it makes sense to switch towards winter-focused sowings such as savoy, red cabbage and Brussels sprouts. We also get into reliable staples and small-space favourites, from chard as a one-sow, long-harvest crop to herbs like coriander, parsley and dill, plus the moment basil finally becomes worth sowing once temperatures settle.

Succession sowing is the thread that ties it all together: spring onions, spinach, lettuce and mixed salad leaves need a rhythm that speeds up as warmth increases. We also run through root crops like carrots, parsnip, turnips and beetroot, then the warm-season newcomers like courgette, sweetcorn, pumpkin and melon. Finally, we switch to the ornamental garden with what to sow for flowers and colour, including cosmos, cornflower, wildflowers and fast-growing dahlias from seed.

If you enjoy practical gardening advice and month-by-month seed sowing guides, subscribe, share the episode with a garden mate, and leave a review so more growers can find the show.

Transcript

Welcome And May Sowing Plan

SPEAKER_00 0:12

How's it going everybody and welcome to episode 328 of Master My Garden Podcast. Now, this week's episode being the first Friday of the month, we're going to look at what to sew for the month ahead. So, what to sew in the month of May. And uh yeah, this is this is probably the busiest month for sewing. But before we get into that, uh special mention for this week's sponsor, it's probiocarbon. And for any of you that has been listening to the podcast for a while, you know that I have used over the last number of years uh probiocarbon's biochar. And it's biochar of which you guys know all the benefits of, but it's inoculated with bacillus subtlis. And it really increases plant health, it encourages vigorous growth, better yields, and I suppose one of the biggest things with it is uh it's a one-time application. So if you guys apply it to your garden, then you're essentially creating the the biochar creates little pockets with which in which the microbes will live. So it creates like a little pocket for for soil health for microbes and and so on. So a really brilliant, brilliant thing to add to your garden. Uh probiocarbon, they also sell some brilliant products like crayon, which we'll be talking about in the in the weeks coming up, which is uh a bacterial mix which is designed to invigorate plants, stimulate their natural defences, and very good for things like books of blight. But we'll be talking about that in a couple of weeks. I'll put a link to probiocarbon in the in the show notes, and yeah, some superb products backed up by the brilliant knowledge of Dr. Carno Hanlan. So really good range and delighted to have them on as a sponsor. Um so what to sew in the month of May? It's uh as I say, the busiest month from when it comes to sewing, and you know, every year and every month uh the the list changes and evolves. And this year is I would say it's a really it has been a really tricky year, as you know, from the point of view of the wet. But another feature is that we're getting huge fluctuations in temperature. And a good example of that this week again, I mentioned it a couple of weeks ago where I had up to 30 degrees in the you know the propagation area of the polytunnel and then it dropped down overnight to minus or to 0.5 degrees, and we have had the exact same thing this week. So I had some daytime temperatures because we've had some beautiful, beautiful blue skies and sunny days this week, but I also had nighttime temperatures down to zero. And even within the days, I don't know if anyone else is finding this or any of you guys are noticing this, but even within a day, we seem to get kind of big variances. Today was a was a a good example of that. This morning, bright, sunny, quite warm, quite mild, and then sometime in the middle of the day there was a really cold chill in the air, and then in the afternoon it darkened down, got mild again, and at this point in time, you know, there's a little bit of rain. But it it fluctuates, you know, very much so within the day. And I don't just mean it's warm when you're standing in the sun and it's cold when you're in the shade, because that's a kind of a normal feature in the spring. I'm talking about shifts in the air mass and the temperatures of the air mass. They it to me that's something that has been quite noticeable this spring. And you know, certainly that plays a big impact in terms of sowing seeds and how they you know, how they germinate, how they grow on, and so on. That that fluctuating temperature, as I said, is is not ideal for seedlings. Ground temperatures as well, they would have been rising quite steadily over the last week, but again, a little bit of rain now and a cooler day, and they kind of have dropped down again. And you know, we can get sowing now outside, but we're really only at the start of it, which seems really strange considering we're entering into the month of May. Um, you know, because typically we would, you know, certainly last year we would have got got out and got sowing a little bit earlier. But yeah, it just goes to show every year, every month, different and not necessarily challenges, but just every year is different, and you have to learn to I suppose navigate that because I don't want to be talking about the weather constantly, but when it comes to sowing seeds and planting out seedlings, it is a huge factor in you know your decision process and so on. So yeah, you can't ignore it for sure. Um and hopefully, now that we enter May, that we are getting into a period of steady, uh steady warm sunny days. That's that's what you'd like. Um so yeah, that's where it's at. But uh when it comes to sowing seed, this is the busiest month, and you know, the list is is quite big this month. The thing about it is everything that's on this list, and I'll kind of highlight some of these as we go through, there's certain crops that I will only sew once a year, and that's it. One one sewing is loads you know of certain things. So everything is on the list. The list is probably at its biggest this month, but you don't have to sew everything on it. It just means that you could if you w if you wanted to or you needed to. So looking at the list, we're starting at the top again. The other thing that changes this month a little bit is our variety choices and possibly, you know, our uh windows for harvest. So, for example, the first one on the list is cabbage, and we'll still sew the likes of our York or our greyhound or a pointed head cabbage because they'll you know they'll give you quite quick crops over the next couple of months. But what we will do certainly late in the month, is that we'll switch to you know our winter focus. And this is a really important feature of sowing seed, is that sometimes you're you know, you know, with your salads, we'll talk about it, you're you're successionally sowing, you're sowing regularly in order to ensure that we you know constantly have something coming on the horizon that we have our next replacement of our spinach or whatever. But for the likes of a cabbage, sometimes you have to look long into the distance. And by doing that, you sort of fill those gaps at the back end of the year. And this this is you know that's a really important thing. So we're looking ahead to things like you know, at the at the end of the month, sowing our winter winter crops like our winter cabbage, um, starting to sow to like the savai cabbage, red cabbage, uh, Brussels sprouts, you know, things like that. And that's at the at the very end of the month. You know, so you're you're looking ahead here. Things like leaks as well, we're sowing, you know, for that autumn winter period. So you're sewing for the now when it comes to salads, and you're sewing for the future harvest when it comes to some of these other crops. So, yeah, first on the list is cabbage, and again, as I say, you can do the pint of cabbage or the York style cabbage, and then later in the month we're going to switch to our our winter crops. Uh, calabries or our broccoli is the same, so we're looking at you know, um summer, autumn varieties, and even winter varieties from now on. So we're switching, you know, moving from really early maturing months to sort of later uh mid and late season uh maturing ones. So calabri is a very good one. Purple sprout and broccoli, kind of last sewing of that. Um leeks, we're looking for winter harvesting ones now, so we're looking ahead here. So leeks you can sew this month, and that's kind of again, leaks will be the last sewing that we do this month. Uh, one that I don't have much success with it when I sew it, don't sew it very often. Uh I've probably sewed it twice and it hasn't been very successful, it's been okay, is pack chai. Probably should sew it again because I do like pack chai, but uh it's one that I've not had much success with. I had kind of some kind of a a leaf miner or something, you know, did a kind of a job on it the last time. Uh so I haven't sewed it recently, but maybe I should again. Next one on the list, I kind of love it, will always have it. Um I think it's a I think it's a crop that's underutilized, it's one that should be probably in most gardens. It's so easy to grow, can harvest over such a long period. I really like you know crops like that that can give so much over such a long period with very little little effort. Um, you know, they're they're the kind of things I like, and this one is charred. So the one I grow is bright lights, it's a beautiful multicoloured chard. The beauty with that is you do one sewing per year, and that does you for you kind of almost always have some available. So I'll do a sewing maybe three to six maximum. So just three to six plants, that's all I need. Plant them once a year into the polytunnel, and essentially I'll be able to harvest more or less for 12 months. Now, you kind of do, you know, you if you don't get your your early sowing going in the in you say earlier in the year, then the ones that are in the tunnel will start to go to seed, you know, before your new ones are ready. So you might get a little bit of a gap. But essentially with a handful of handful of plants, you can keep yourself in chard for a very long period of time, you know, in the poly tunnel or or or even outside. So chard is another one that you can sow this month. Celery is another one. Again, celery is one that I don't I don't grow from seed myself. Um, again, a small amount really is enough for us here. So I will buy one good tray, maybe nine or twelve plants of celery, and same thing, harvest off that and try and get maybe twelve months harvest from one tray of them. The reason I don't sow it from seed, it's not difficult. You just need to give it light. Can be a little bit trickier, you know, need solid temperatures and all the rest of it. But when you're only growing a small amount like that, you know, it it kind of makes more sense to me to just get a little tray of it and go on again. Uh I have celeriac so this year, they've germinated brilliantly, so you know they'll be giving you that similar flavour uh in the winter, and again it's another really nice welcome harvest in the in the deep of the winter. Uh, and that's yeah, as I say, that's what you should have an eye on at this stage. A lot of the herbs um can be sown. So we're sowing the likes of coriander, we're sowing chervil, we're sowing dill, and beautifully this month we're we're sowing our parsley our basil for the first time. And you know, that is probably the highlight of the year when you have your basil that you've grown in your in your tunnel. It has that lovely, lovely smell when you walk past that your tomatoes are nearly ready, and you're in July, end of July, your tomatoes are nearly ready, and that first you know, bruchetta or tomato and basil salad that you have just absolutely second to none, and it you know, m thinking ahead to that makes me smile and looking forward to it. So basil can be sowed this month. It's really one that needs that warm, solid temperature. So, you know, what I mentioned at the very start around you know, around those fluctuations of temperatures, basil will not like that. So you need to get to the point where we're where we're warm and we're steadily warm, and then basil will will absolutely fly out of it. So just navigate those next those next week or two and get your basil going in this month. Some other ones uh mentioned parsley as well, can be sown, you know, any of the types of parsley, um any of the other herbs that you want to grow from seed, the likes of you know, you can still sow rosemary, sage, thyme, all of those. Again, for any of those, I still probably recommend just getting a plant because you'll only need, you know, for a normal household, you'll only need one plant of any of those. So getting a packet of seed where you have maybe 50 or 100 seeds in it probably doesn't make much sense. You just need to, you just need one plant, so just go out and buy them, I would think. Um French beans kind of coming into the list now. Really, my my first sewing of French beans will this will be this month. I have peas sowed already, but French beans, this is the first time, so I'm looking for that warmth, and they really do like the warmth. So you have to watch for them, especially over the first week or two after after you've sewed them, that they germinate, and those young plants they do not like cold at all. So this is why it's a good month to start. And as I say, I'll only be starting this month with them. Uh, peas is another one, as I say. I've my sewing, my first sewing, my main sewing, I might do a late later sewing, but um generally speaking, in most years I'll do one sewing of peas, and I have a good sewing done of those now. So they're doing they're doing well, and uh yeah, that's you know, that's kind of your your peas and beans. Uh, French beans, you can have two, the ones I generally grow is I try to grow the ones in the little bushes. I find they're just um for me, we don't need a huge amount. So the climbing ones are beautiful, but I just find the little small ones, the little bush uh plant. I can't remember the variety offhand, but they're just easier for for our setup here, and won't grow a lot of them, just uh maybe four or five plants, and that kind of gives you a nice, nice supply of lovely French beans over the summer months. So you know there's lots lots to be sowing. Um our salads obviously continue, so continuity our our successional sewing is hugely important here, and it becomes you know, the the the frequency of sowing needs to increase slightly over the next month or two because the time from sowing to seedling being produced to full harvest shortens as the as the temperatures rise. And for the likes of spinach, that means that it'll run to seed a little bit quicker. So where up until now you might have been getting away with kind of four or six weeks' basins, you might need to actually push that back in these next couple of months to maybe three, every three weeks, two to three weeks, and that'll give you the nice, consistent um cropping of of the likes of spinach. So other successional successional crops that will continue to sew spring onions, they'll be a constant on the list on the list. We're constantly sewing, we're constantly using them. They're on the sewing guides every month, and then radish can be on it every month. I dip in and out of radish as I've mentioned before. I love it for certain periods and then don't like it at other times. So I'll sew it, mightn't do it for a couple of months again, then sew it again and get little windows where it's something different. Um you kind of get a little bit fed up of it as if it's available all the time. Lettuce will be a constant as well, not nearly as frequent a sewing as the spinach, because with the lettuce I, you know, will will s harvest all around the outside, and I'll continue to harvest over a long period of time, allowing the plant to grow upwards, kind of smart harvesting. And by doing that, I'm tricking the plant into you know, it's looking to push the seed, it's looking to form its head, but I keep taking away the leaves, it keeps pushing upwards, and you just get longer out of it. So it means that you can go from needing to sow in the traditional successional sewing, you'd need to sow every kind of three or four weeks, you can kind of push that to six weeks, eight weeks, um, maybe even even longer, um, by using smart harvesting and having pushing out that requirement to continue to sew. Salad leaves and mixed salad leaves are beautiful in the in the summertime. You know, you're mixing your rockets, your mustards, your lettuces, different colours and different styles of lettuce. And that's you know that you can buy them in sort of pre pre mixed um pre-mixed um you know mixes that are suitable for spring and summer. Um, rocket and mustard, as I mentioned, can be sown individually then as well. So the salads are you know a constant now as we as we enter these months. Also the months where we you know we like to eat salads in the in the warmer weather. It's the type of food that our body craves at this stage of the year. So to have it coming constantly fresh, constantly, you know, constantly fresh and constantly available and nice and tender and and and all that is the way to do that, it's by continually sowing. And before we get on to the root vegetables, uh really special mention to uh this week's sponsor, Seeds Ireland. So Seeds Ireland are an Irish company, they have a wide range of you know, a lot of open pollinated seed. They have brilliant reviews on Google and Trustpilot. I know personally that I've used them probably for about the last four or five years now, and always found the germination rates very good. Delivery service is very, very fast, and they you know, good range to choose from, so you can get all your vegetables, all your herbs, a lot of flowers. So you have a big range to choose from, fast delivery, really good germination rates, um, good value as well, and yeah, a good company to check out. They also sell a lot of sundries and things like microgreens as well. So big range and uh very, very good quality seed. So ideal for the week that we're talking about, the you know, the the seed sewing, the seed sowing guide for the month of May, and check out Seeds Ireland. We have a uh listener's offer. The link for that is in the show notes as well. So if you click through that, you get a special discount and on on your next order of seeds. So the root vegetables that we can sow, we're looking at things like uh carrot. Um you know, looking at probably for me, I'll do one good sewing of carrots now. I already have the you know sort of aerlier varieties, the um I forget the one I sewed now, the sugar snack. I have that one sewed. I'll do a good sewing now of a winter variety in the in the coming weeks. Parsnip for me, I only do one sewing a year. That's plenty for me. Do a good sewing of it at that stage, and I actually still have the very, very last of the parsnips coming out of the ground now. Uh so I'm getting a long period of time out of those before we'll start to switch into the sort of summer crops. Uh little turnips like the Milan purple tops and snowballs, you can still sew all those. Swibeads, you can still sew. Uh beetroot, you can still sow. And kind of this month is kind of the first time that you know the likes of cucumber. Well, cucumber has been on the list before. Uh, Corgett comes on this month for me. I haven't sewed it yet, but I will sew it this month. Sweet corn, uh, pumpkin comes onto the list for the first time this month. You know, this is a perfect month, and especially with the with the lower temperatures that we've had, pumpkin is a very, very good one. And then you have melon, of course, which is uh on the list for me for the first time. One sewing, uh probably four or five plants, and that's it. And you know, that's they come onto the list for the first time and then then disappear again next month. So just some really special things that you can sew in the month of May. So it's quite a comprehensive list. It is probably the biggest list in terms of you know, in terms of the amount that we can sew within a month. Um, as I said, you don't have to sew all these, there is ways of not having to sew these all the time. You know, we can spread them out by by using a variety of techniques, and some some crops you just need small amounts if you don't need big amounts. So that's kind of the the herbs and the vegetables. So when we switch to the ornamental garden, uh, and for me personally, I have a bit of sewing to do, quite a bit of sewing to do actually. So I have you know some canangelas, some marigolds, things like that, well sown, well grown on. Um but I am sowing for the first time now in the next week, uh, in the next days, actually, cosmos. So I've got three nice um three nice packets of cosmos uh seeds. They'll be sown in the coming days. I got a nice cornflower as well. Um I have some annual bedding annuals that I'm going to sow this this week. Uh Jelly Love and the Mist and you know things like that. Um dahlias I have not bishop's children, but one of those dahlias. So dahlias obviously can be sowed from tubers at the moment, but actually from seed, it's a brilliant, brilliant month to do that. And they'll grow so fast that they'll germinate in probably a week. They will start to produce a nice little plug plant within three weeks, probably. You can pot them on then at that stage, and by middle of June you'll have a very good plant ready to go out into the ground. They'll be a little bit tender, so just watch out for things like slugs, but they'll be really fast at this time of the year. So daily is a great month to sow them in this month, and especially with the temperatures hopefully coming up now. Wildflowers, as we mentioned last week, can be sowed at the moment. Good few of the perennials can be sowed as well. And as I mentioned, a lot of the tubers, you know, the the likes of the begonias, the likes of the lilies, all of those can can be bought in your garden centres now and potted on or sewed directly into the ground or planted directly into the ground. And it's a brilliant time to get variety. The dahlias is probably the star of that show, you know, the perennial, the perennial tubers. If you go into any garden centre now, you'll see walls of various types of dahlias, and they are you know they are beautiful and definitely worth uh worth the investment because they'll give so much over the next few months and give such a long period of flower. You think you know getting them going at this stage you're not going to see much from them this year, but the transformation once the weather and the temperatures come up and the growth levels, you know, it's really phenomenal how much they can do in a short period of time and then deliver so much flour all through sort of late summer and into the into the autumn. So they're all worth doing. So you know it's a long list, there's a lot to be at in May. Typically, it's probably the busiest month in the garden as well. A lot of your seedlings that you've previously sowed, they're needing to go out, ready to go out, and you just get um tight for space. You know, there's a lot going on, growth rates in general are flying, weed growth within your borders tends to be flying, so you've a lot going on and it tends to be a busy, a bit quite a busy month. From a sowing perspective, don't forget to continue to sow, make sure you have those crops, as I mentioned, those autumn and winter crops, you're getting those sowed now because while you may not have space for them today, you will at some point in the in the very near future, and then you need to ensure that you have stuff coming down the tracks for later on. So that's um you know that's the seed sowing list. As I say, a busy, busy list, uh a lot on it, a lot to do this month, and uh but it's also a nice month, and hopefully, you know, nice nice long days, nice, you know, brighter evenings, you know, you can work on a little bit in the evenings, so it's always nice as well, and hopefully, hopefully good settled weather as well. That's that's what we're all looking for. Uh next week next week's episode brings us to our open garden features for the first time this year, and it's one I'm really looking forward to. It's from Elma from the Poppy Garden. And yeah, it's a brilliant interview, actually. Um, a lot of fun, really interesting story of a garden, and uh yeah, it's uh it's a brilliant one for next week's episode. Uh huge thanks to you before I sign off to this week's sponsors. It's Pro Biocarbon and Seeds Ireland. Links to both of those are in the show notes. And that's been this week's episode. Thanks for listening. Until the next time, happy garden.