Newsletter – May 2026
Preparing Your Winter Sanctuary
Hello, Avid Gardener
Welcome to your May garden guide! As the crisp air settles in across South Africa, it's time to prepare your sanctuary for the winter months ahead. Here is your essential checklist for a thriving, resilient garden.
🌸 Flower Beds & Ornamentals
- Tidy Up: Clear remaining annuals and debris; remove collapsed plants and cut back growth as needed.
- Soil Preparation:Dig compost, manure, and organic material (like leaf mold) into bare soil, then cover with mulch to prep for spring.
- Winter Color: Brighten beds, containers, and baskets with pansies, violas, petunias, primroses, and cyclamen.
- Bird-Friendly Planting: Divide perennials like daylilies and cut back ornamental grasses and bamboos.
- Dividing & Cutting Back: Incorporate grasses to provide food and shelter for birds during the winter.
- Tender Perennials: Do not cut back plants like fuchsias by more than a third; add mulch around the base for protection.
🌹 Roses & Shrubs
- Planting: Now is the time to plant bare-root trees, shrubs, hedges, and roses. Soak roots for one hour before planting.
- Rose Care: When planting or transplanting roses, use plenty of compost and ensure the hole is deep enough to cover the graft union.
- Pruning: Cut existing roses back to roughly half their size. Burn all fallen leaves to prevent fungal diseases.
🌳 Pruning & Maintenance
- Deciduous Plants:Use the bare branches to assess shape and prune accordingly. Wait until spring for tender plants and evergreens.
- Conifers:Trim lightly to maintain shape (avoid old wood). Action Item: Spray every 7 days for aphids using Koinor (as a foliar spray or systemic).
- Fruit Trees:Prune established apple and pear trees to keep the center open for air circulation and sunlight.
🥦 The Winter Veggie Patch
- New Additions:Plant garlic, shallots, broad beans, and peas.
- Soft Fruits:Plant raspberries and gooseberries in well-prepared holes at their original bag depth.
- Harvesting:Continue picking carrots, leeks, and parsnips. Harvest Brussels sprouts from the bottom of the stalk upward. Protect brassicas from pests as needed.
🏡 General Garden Care
- Frost Protection: In heavy frost areas, get your frost protection fleece ready to cover tender plants.
- Lawn Care: Rake up fallen leaves. Cut the grass only when dry, with your mower blades set to a high level.
- Container Care: Raise pots off the ground to improve drainage and prevent waterlogging.
Pro Tip: When planting bare-root specimens in exposed areas, ensure they are well-protected against harsh winter winds and frost immediately after settling.
What to Plant Now:
Vegetables:
| Category | Varieties |
|---|---|
| Root Crops | Sow carrots (varieties like 'Kuroda' are heat and disease-resistant), beetroot ('Crimson Globe'), radishes, and turnips. |
| Brassicas | Plant cabbage (varieties like 'Hercules' or 'Conquistador'), broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, and kale. |
| Legumes & Alliums | Now is the time for broad beans, peas, garlic, leeks, onions, and shallots. Leafy Greens: Sow spinach, Swiss chard, celery, and various lettuces. |
| Perennials | Plant asparagus crowns. |
Herbs:
| Category | Varieties |
|---|---|
| Hardy Herbs | Plant parsley, oregano, thyme, and chives. |
| Aromatic & Culinary | Try rocket, fennel, dill, mint, lemon grass, and angelica. |
Fruit:
| Category | Varieties |
|---|---|
| Berries | Plant raspberry and gooseberry bushes, as well as strawberries. |
| Trees (Bare-root or Potted) | You can plant apples, pears, peaches, plums, apricots, and cherries. |
| Citrus & Vines | Lemons and granadilla (passion fruit) vines are highly rewarding options. |
Flowers:
| Category | Varieties |
|---|---|
| Winter Color | Plant pansies, violas, petunias, primroses, poppies, snapdragons, and lobelia for instant brightness. |
| Spring-Flowering Bulbs | May is the peak time to plant tulips, daffodils, freesias, ranunculus, Dutch irises, and anemones. |
| Hardy Annuals & Perennials: | Sow seeds for African daisies, sweet peas, alyssum, and cornflowers. |
Shrubs and Trees:
| Category | Varieties |
|---|---|
| Ornamental Shrubs | Plant camellias (especially Camellia japonica for winter blooms), azaleas, hydrangeas, and lavender. |
| Indigenous Favorites | Incorporate aloes, strelitzia (bird of paradise), Cape honeysuckle, and ribbon bush (Hypoestes aristata) for local winter interest. |
| Specimen Trees | Consider evergreen options like white ironwood (Vepris lanceolata) or deciduous fruit trees while they are dormant. |
| Structure & Screening | Heavenly bamboo (Nandina domestica) provides beautiful rusty-red foliage in winter, while viburnum and conifers offer year-round structure. |
Pro Pest-Control Tip: Conifer Protection
To keep your conifers healthy and maintain their shape during the winter transition, follow this regimen:
| Targeted Treatment | Specifically monitor for and treat aphids. |
| Regular Frequency | Spray your plants every 7 days with Cypermethrin to ensure consistent protection. Remember not to eat fruit from plants you have sprayed within the last 30 days |
| Application Methods | You can use Koinor as a systemic treatment to effectively manage pests. |
📣 Our Promotions this month:
Kind Regards / Groete
Pick-Me Nursery Marketing Team
Mobile 076-562-4650
Email: info@pickmenursery.co.za
Pick-Me Nursery Marketing Team
Mobile 076-562-4650
Email: info@pickmenursery.co.za