May 2026
May in the kitchen garden is always a hopeful month. The soil has finally started to warm, the evenings stretch a little longer and suddenly everything seems to grow overnight.
This month is all about planting with optimism — tomatoes, courgettes, beans, basil and salads are all finding their place, while the herbs are beginning to properly wake up after spring. The first edible flowers are appearing too, bringing colour both to the garden and the kitchen.
Jobs for May are wonderfully simple: keeping on top of watering young plants, pinching out broad beans to help deter blackfly, supporting climbing peas before they take off and staying ahead of weeds while they’re still manageable. A good mulch around thirsty plants now will make life much easier later in the summer.
A couple of garden principles we always come back to:
• Water deeply, but less often — it encourages stronger roots.
• Harvest herbs regularly, even when they aren’t immediately needed. The more you pick, the more they grow.
