Herbs & flowers to sow in May

It’s one of the busiest times here at The Garden Deli. Seedlings are jostling for space on every available windowsill, there’s the daily out and back of plants as they become acclimatised to the outside world, and harvests to make from earlier sowings of herbs and salad leaves. Meanwhile the weeds are growing at full speed. It might be busy, but it’s also a fabulous time – full of promise and fresh growth.

There’s still a lot more to sow too. I’m making regular sowings of annual herbs and rocket. Starting a few seeds each week, either directly in the ground or in modules, means I’ll have harvests of tender young leaves for the kitchen right through summer. Dill, coriander and chervil are top of my list, just because they’re used in huge amounts and taste best when gathered fresh from the garden. I’m growing plenty of basil too – the classic ‘Sweet Genovese’, along with gently flavoured lemon basil and the smaller leafed Greek basil. Then there’s sweet marjoram and summer savory… herbs you really need to grow yourself, because they’re just not that easy to buy.

For the flower garden I’m sowing nasturtiums and French marigolds into small pots indoors, while cornflowers, calendula and borage can now be sown directly where they’ll grow and flower. For cut flowers I’m choosing nectar-rich blooms that will feed the bees as well as my vase. So, there’s cosmos, borage, sweet scabious and dill ‘Mammoth’ to get started.

If you’re looking for more ideas of what to sow now, I’ve put together a collection of seeds for sowing in May… three herbs for the kitchen and three flowers that are gorgeous, edible and great for bees!