Early spring flowerers such as Aubretia, yellow-flowered Alyssum saxatalis and Arabis will all benefit from a drastic haircut right now.

If left to their own devices, they become stringy and sprawly with scant leaves and flowers on the ends. Show no fear – cut them right down and you will get fresh new growth in a nice tight mound.

On the subject of cutting back, if you grow Pyracantha as a wall shrub, it will be putting on extension growth now. This is all very well if it is going upwards, but all too often it grows outwards, gets in the way and is hacked at the wrong time.

Look for growths that are growing into the wall or fence and those that are sticking out over the path and prune them back to three inches or so from the main stem. Ones that are really going to be a problem should be taken back altogether.

Growth spurts are happening all over the place and with climbers such as Clematis, this will mean you need to tie them in to train them where you want them to go. Don’t weave them through trellis or round wires. It is much better practice to tie to the front of trellis and so forth because that way you can take things down or move them about.

Clematis Montana will be flowering now and what a spectacle it makes. It needs room to do its thing but if yours is running out of room then you will need to give it a good trim after it has finished flowering – don’t wait until later as that will result in no flowers at all.

Mid-May can be a surprisingly dry time – I know what you’re thinking but it’s true! If you have not invested in some water butts then it would be a good plan to do so. Concentrate any watering efforts on things that are about to come into flower or are in flower and going to make fruit, and anything that has been newly planted. This holds true through summer.

If you are wanting to grow your own runner beans and have not pot-sown any then you can get direct planting in the garden. Make sure you have the growing frame already in situ and pop two seeds in at the base of each upright. If both germinate, remove the weaker of the two. Runner beans are hungry and thirsty beasts so it’s best to have prepared the ground well before – preferably last autumn – with loads of muck.

If you are worried about stringy beans, it could be you have either left them too long on the plant or you have chosen the wrong sort.

Stringless runner beans include ‘Lady Di’, ‘Desiree’ with white flowers, ‘Pickwick’ which is a shorter variety, ‘Polestar’, ‘Red Knight’ and ‘Royal Standard’.

I don’t worry about stringless as I look at my plants every day and remove anything worth eating.

Don’t forget, you can grow these things in pots as well – go for the dwarf types – and enjoy!