Garden Q&A: Is May too early for planting out summer bedding?

Whether you're a gardening beginner or expert, Irish Examiner columnist Peter Dowdall has the answer to your questions

I want to plant out some summer bedding in hanging baskets, window boxes and in my borders but am wondering if it is too early?

ANSWER

The short answer is, yes it is too early. 

These plants are popping up in garden centres, supermarkets and hardware stores earlier and earlier each year but nature doesn’t change to suit the retailers.

Most, if not all, the bedding and frost-tender annuals that are available will have been grown and sold indoors, under glass or in heated structures. 

If you plant them out now they will most likely succumb to low temperatures at night. 

Leave it until the last week in May before planting out and even then “harden them off” first. 

This simply means you need to acclimatise the plants first before planting them out permanently. 

Move them outside for a few hours each day for four or five days, giving them a bit longer outside each day and then they will be good to go.

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