Column: May can be an important month for gardeners in the area

Your garden or outside space may not be up for a gold medal, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not a ‘show stopper’ in its own right.

Just think of the time you spend feeling good in the space you have created – and that can be as simple as a single pot of lavender on a patio to bring fragrance, beauty and butterflies to your special place.

Lavender loves container life (and being in borders as well) and is also often planted as an edging plant with roses or grown as an informal hedge. It’s a favourite with gardeners not just for its beautiful form and fragrance but also because it attracts essential pollinators.

It’s also considered a romantic flower that most gardeners get the urge to plant in their garden sooner or later and can add real value with its scent and shades of purple flowers and silver leaf backdrop. To successfully grow lavender, it needs to be planted (from March to May) in a warm, well-drained soil with full sun. It’s a tough plant though and once established only requires regular pruning after flowering has finished in the autumn.

English lavender, Lavandula angustifolia, is hardier and lives longer than French and Spanish lavender. Two of the most popular varieties of English lavender are ‘Munstead’, an old-fashioned standard height plant with blue-purple flowers and ‘Hidcote’ much loved for its dark purple flowers.

Part of the same plant family as lavender is the sun-loving Mediterranean herb oregano. Easy to grow, compact and drought tolerant, it thrives in pots or in the ground and forms a low clump of small aromatic leaves that has attractive small pink or white flowers in summer.

It’s a perennial, living for many years, and is usually hardy enough to survive the British winter if grown in a warm sunny spot, in a container or in free-draining soil. It is used mainly as a culinary herb, but also makes a great herbal tea – just pick a spring of fresh oregano, let it infuse in boiling water for a few minutes and sweeten with some honey if the taste is too bitter for you.

Oregano tea is often enjoyed for its potential health benefits, including its antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. It is believed to support digestion, boost the immune system, and provide relief from respiratory issues.

Herbs are always a good addition to any garden or patio, but for anyone with a lawn, don’t forget that it’s No Mow May … so time to let the lawn grow long and let pollinators feed on the flowers, which gives you time to tackle some of the other jobs in the garden.