Things to do in the MAY garden

• DIVIDE PRIMROSE PLANTS after flowering is finished. Pull the clumps gently apart to separate individual crowns for replanting.

• LIGHTLY CUT BACK EARLY-BLOOMING PERENNIALS such as aubretia and yellow alyssum after flowering.

• PINCH BACK the stems of MICHAELMAS DAISIES to produce denser plants and better flowering later. Stake tall varieties, and fertilized very lightly.

• Continue planting GLADIOLUS corms.

• PLANT CORN IN BLOCKS of short rows for the best pollination and the fullest possible ears.

• THIN EARLY SPRING SOWINGS of carrots, lettuce, beets, calendula, poppy and larkspur.

• Consider a flowering potted plant as a Mother's Day gift. Mums, New guinea impatiens, Chinese hibiscus, miniature rose, gloxinia and Martha Washington geranium are a few of the highly desirable gift plants commonly available now.

• Where space is limited and no trellis or other major support is available, try growing vining CUCUMBERS in wire tomato cages.

• Keep unwanted STRAWBERRY runners cut off.

• PRUNE SPRING-FLOWERING TREES, for example, flowering cherries, after they finish blooming.

• Pinch out the tops of BROAD BEAN plants if they are infested with black aphids. Earth up early potatoes.

• Remove faded flowerheads from RHODODENDRONS by snapping the stems off at the base of the flower cluster, immediately above new green growth buds. Take care to leave these buds intact.