May is arguably the most exciting month in the gardening calendar. After months of waiting, everything happens at once, borders fill out, lawns green up, and there’s suddenly more to do than there are daylight hours. But get the groundwork right this month and you’ll set your garden up for a spectacular summer. Here’s the focus for garden jobs in May:

Feed Your Lawn Before It Gets Away From You

By May, your lawn is growing at full pace, and that means it’s hungry. If you haven’t given it a spring feed yet, now is the time. A natural, slow-release lawn fertiliser will give your grass the sustained nutrition it needs without the surge-and-crash effect you get from synthetic feeds. Look for a product rich in nitrogen to encourage strong, even growth and that deep green colour that makes a lawn look properly looked after.

Our Nutralawn Micro (Spring & Summer) is perfectly formulated for this time of year, delivering the nutrients your lawn needs as it hits its peak growing season. For a greener result fast, Nutragreen Micro is another excellent option, both are available with free UK mainland delivery.

If you’re seeing patchy, pale areas, it’s worth checking whether compaction or thatch is blocking the nutrients from getting through. A quick rake or scarify followed by a top dressing and feed can transform a tired looking lawn within a few weeks.

Prepare Your Soil Before Planting Out

Late May marks the traditional end of frost risk across most of the UK, which means it’s finally safe to plant out tender summer bedding, vegetables, and half-hardy perennials. But before anything goes in the ground, give your soil some attention.

Compacted, nutrient-depleted soil is one of the most common reasons plants underperform. Working in a Natural Soil Amender, one that improves structure, encourages microbial life, and boosts nutrient availability, makes a huge difference to how well new plants establish. Think of it as preparing a bed rather than just digging a hole.

If you grow fruit and vegetables, now is also a great time to think about sulphur. Our Sulphur Fruit & Veg and Sulphur Soil are excellent choices for improving soil condition and feeding crops naturally, and for anyone keen on getting more flavour out of homegrown produce, they’re well worth considering. Brassicas, in particular, benefit from the right soil pH, and getting this right before planting can head off a lot of problems later in the season.

Keep Supporting Your Roses

If you pruned your roses back in late winter or early spring (as we covered in a previous blog), you should be seeing strong new growth by now. May is the month to support that growth with a dedicated rose fertiliser, ideally something natural that feeds the plant gradually and also improves the condition of the surrounding soil over time.

Our Nutrarose Micro is a highly rated rose feed designed to promote strong growth and abundant flowering. For a complete solution, the Rose Bundle combines our best rose care products at great value. If blackspot or other fungal issues have been a problem in previous years, the Sulphur Rose Spray-on RTU is a natural, ready-to-use treatment that’s gentle on the plant but effective against disease.

Roses are heavy feeders, and a monthly feed from now through to late August will pay dividends in the number and quality of blooms you get. Deadheading your first flush of flowers as they fade will also encourage the plant to put its energy into the next round rather than setting seed.

Your Garden Is a Lifeline for Pollinators Right Now

May is one of the most critical months for bumblebees, solitary bees, and other pollinators. Queen bumblebees that have only recently emerged from hibernation are still building their colonies, and worker bees are beginning to forage in earnest. What you do in your garden right now genuinely matters for local wildlife.

If you’ve been thinking about making your garden more pollinator-friendly, May is a brilliant time to add plants that will provide a long flowering season. Alliums are fantastic in May and June, and their tall, structural heads look beautiful in borders. Hardy geraniums, foxgloves, aquilegia, and nepeta (catmint) are all bee magnets that are easy to establish at this time of year.

Healthy, well-fed soil grows healthier plants, and healthier plants produce more nectar. Our Bags of Goodness general garden fertiliser is a simple, natural way to give your borders a boost as pollinator season gets underway. For more tips on creating a bee-friendly garden, take a look at our dedicated Gardening for Bumblebees guide.

A Quick May Checklist

To keep on top of everything, here’s what to work through as the month goes on:

• Feed the lawn with Nutralawn Micro or Nutragreen Micro if not already done
• Prepare beds with a Natural Soil Amender before planting out tender plants after the last frost
• Feed roses monthly with Nutrarose Micro and watch for early signs of pests or disease
• Plant pollinator-friendly flowers and support them with Bags of Goodness
• Sow direct outdoors – French beans, courgettes, sunflowers, and nasturtiums can all go in now
• Water newly planted specimens deeply rather than little and often, to encourage deep root growth
• Keep on top of weeds before they get established, a few minutes now saves hours later

May rewards gardeners who stay just one step ahead. The good news is that with the right products and a bit of consistency, most of the hard work manages itself. Focus on the soil, feed what you’ve got growing, and make space for wildlife, and your garden will do the rest.

Browse our full range of natural lawn fertilisers, rose feeds, and soil amenders at greenacresdirect.co.uk