The worms have spent some time thinking of tasks in the garden for May this week. There’s quite a few to dos, like pruning your early flowering shrubs. Perhaps it’s as important to know which plants not to prune, too. Follow our blog to get more daily gardening cartoons, ideas, tasks and tips.

The headline says, “Now’s a good time to dos one spring pruning and improve the shape of your plants.” The image is of two works under a lilac branch. One of the worms says, “ Early flowering shrubs bloom on the last year’s stems, so prune them once this season’s flowers faded.” The other worm says, “Like lilacs?” The worm replies, “They’re alright.”

[elementor-template id=”1680″]

The wrigglers are amateur gardeners, for advice from the experts on how to prune your early flowering shrubs, try the RHS – they know what they’re talking about!

RHS link on pruning spring flowering shrubs

Shrubs: pruning early-flowering

Deciduous shrubs that flower in late winter, spring and early summer need annual pruning to encourage strong, healthy shoots and improve flowering. Annual pruning also prolongs the life of these early-flowering shrubs. Such plants fall into RHS Pruning groups 2, 3 and 5

The Wrigglers have joined the #putpollinators first Campaign

Wild flower meadows flower for longer due to the diverse range of plants in them. That’s more flowers for you, and more food for the bees and insects. Plant one and join the Gardener’s World Put Pollinators First campaign – raising awareness of the decline of our pollinators @GWmagazine

Click to see our ‘Put Pollinators First’ page

Gardener’s world launched its #putpollinatorsfirst campaign, as part of their 30th Anniversary celebrations of BBC Gardeners’ World Magazine. See what you can do to play your part:

Join in the Gardener’s World team and pledge here

With a panel of pollinator experts, committed to helping bees and other pollinating insects to thrive, Dr Trevor Dines says, ” Since the 1930’s, over 97 percent of our wildflower meadows have been destroyed. That’s 7.5 million acres, gone. Now you can understand why our pollinators are in such trouble.”

There are 3 ideas:

Sow some pollinator meadow seeds

Create habitats for butterflies, moths and caterpillars

Make a cornfield nectar bar

By making a meadow, even on a small scale, we can provide a banquet for pollinators that’ll help them to thrive.

Here are some seed suppliers and links:

Dobies

Thomson and Morgan – how to sow wildflower seeds

RHS – How to grow a mini wild flower meadow