May, south of the equator

May is the last of the autumn and the start of the cold season. Frost is reliable on the Highveld by now and unknown on much of the coast, which is why a single national calendar is useless in the south and why it is worth knowing your own first frost date rather than an average.

In the garden

Plant the pre chilled tulips now that the soil has cooled, and finish off any remaining daffodils, hyacinths and indigenous spring bulbs. Plant lily bulbs the moment you buy them, because they have no protective skin and dry out fast on a shelf.

Put in the hardy perennials. This is the beginning of the season when roots establish while the top growth is asleep, and a plant that goes in now will be a better plant next summer than one bought in flower in October. Boxwood and other evergreens can be moved and planted, and deciduous shrubs are best left until they are fully dormant next month.

Keep the winter vegetables going. Plant seedlings of broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, sow spinach, lettuce, radish, turnips, leeks and onions, and sow broad beans and peas in the winter rainfall regions. Plant the winter flowering seedlings, which are calendula, pansies, violas, primulas and snapdragons in most nurseries this month.

Mulch thickly before the cold sets in, and move tender pot plants to a sheltered wall or under cover.

Two different Mays

In the winter rainfall Cape the rain has arrived and the growing season is properly under way, so May is a busy planting month. Inland and to the east it is the beginning of the dry cold, growth has stopped, and the work is protection rather than planting. The same list of plants suits both, but one is going in to grow and the other is going in to wait.

In the house

Water sparingly. The days are short, the growth has stopped in most plants, and cold wet compost is the commonest reason a houseplant does not see spring. The interval by now may be double what it was in January.

Get everything as close to the light as possible without touching cold glass, and stop misting in a cool room, because still damp air encourages rot rather than health.

Stop feeding almost everything. Check for scale, mealybug and red spider mite, which all take advantage of a heated room and dry air, and deal with the first few by hand before they become a colony.

What not to do yet

Do not repot, prune or feed a plant that has stopped growing. Do not water on a fixed day of the week. And do not be alarmed by a few older leaves dropping as the light falls, which is normal rather than a warning.