⏱ Read time: 8 min 📊 Difficulty: Beginner to Intermediate 👷 Manpower: 1 to 2 people 🕜Time to complete: Weekend to 2 weekends depending on project
May is the month when every half-decent weekend gets looked at with one eye on the garden. The shed door gets opened. The pile of decking boards from last autumn is given a meaningful nod. Someone floats the idea of sorting the fence before the summer barbecue circuit kicks off. Sound familiar?
The good news: May genuinely is the best month of the year for garden projects in the UK. Ground temperatures are warm, days are long, the soil is workable and the risk of a late frost catching your newly planted shrubs has largely passed. What you need now is the right tools, the right materials, and a plan that doesn't involve three separate trips to the builders merchant on a Saturday morning.
At HSS DIY - The Home of Great Projects - you can hire the tools and buy the decking boards, fence panels and landscaping materials in one order, with next day delivery. 'Buy the materials. Hire the tools. One order. All in one place.' Here's everything you need to tackle decking, fencing and planting this May.
Why May is the Best Month for Garden Projects in the UK
There's a reason contractors and keen DIYers alike get a full calendar in May. The days are long enough to start at 8am and still have the daylight to admire what you've built at 8pm. Ground conditions are good - not the waterlogged mess of March, not the baked-hard clay of August. And if you're planting, the soil temperature is warm enough for roots to establish properly before the heat of summer.
The Royal Horticultural Society flags May as one of the key planting months across the UK, particularly for summer bedding, perennials, climbers and shrubs. For anyone building decking or installing fence panels, May also gives you working conditions where timber isn't soaking wet (which affects treatment adhesion) and concrete postcrete sets at a predictable rate.
Your May Garden Projects at a Glance
Decking - Weekend 1:
Day 1: clear area, lay weed membrane, install frame / joists (4-5 hrs).
Day 2: fit decking boards, cut to length with circular saw, sand and treat (4-5 hrs).
Fencing - Weekend 1 or 2:
Day 1: mark out post positions, bore or dig holes, set posts in postcrete (3-4 hrs + 24 hrs setting time).
Day 2: fit fence panels, add gravel boards, treat timber (4-5 hrs).
Planting & Clearance:
Morning: clear beds, rotavate or dig over soil (2-3 hrs).
Afternoon: plant shrubs, add bark or mulch, water in thoroughly (2-3 hrs). Much more forgiving on timing.
Project 1: Decking - Composite or Timber, Which and What to Hire
Building a deck is one of those projects that transforms how you actually use your garden - suddenly there's a proper outdoor space rather than a patch of grass you look at through the kitchen window. But the planning matters. Getting the materials wrong, or turning up without the right saw, turns a two-day weekend job into a three-weekend saga.
Composite Decking vs Timber Decking Boards - Which is Right for You?
Composite Decking Boards: Higher upfront cost. Zero maintenance once laid - no annual treating, no splinters, no warping. Most composite decking is made from a mix of recycled wood fibre and plastic, making it genuinely durable in UK weather. Typically comes with a 10 to 25-year manufacturer warranty. The smarter long-term choice for a family garden that gets regular use. Browse composite decking and all garden landscaping materials at HSS DIY:
Timber Decking Boards: Lower upfront cost. Treated softwood decking boards need annual or biennial treatment with deck oil or preservative to maintain appearance and prevent rot. They look warmer and more natural than composite - a genuine aesthetic plus if that's the style you're going for. Source treated timber at: hss.mom/buy/c/timber-joinery/treated-timber
Whichever you choose, the tools needed to lay it are the same. Here's what to hire:
🪚Circular Saw Hire | Tool Hire | DIY & Trade
The primary cutting tool for decking boards - cuts long straight lines cleanly and quickly. Hire one from HSS DIY for the weekend and you'll cut a full deck's worth of boards in an afternoon rather than spending a morning sawing by hand (which is nobody's idea of fun).
🔧Jigsaw Hire | Tool Hire | DIY & Trade
For the tricky cuts - corners, angles around posts, trimming around obstructions. If your decking has any shape to it beyond a straight rectangle, a jigsaw is worth adding to the booking. Lightweight and easy to use.
💦Pressure Washer Hire | Tool Hire | DIY & Trade
If you're laying decking over an existing patio or hard surface, a pressure washer cleans it properly before you build. Also excellent for giving your fence, furniture and paths a refresh while you have it for the weekend.
Hire Pressure Washer (Karcher 130 bar)
🏗️All Decking & Landscaping Materials | Materials to Buy | DIY & Trade
Decking boards, joists, fixings, weed membrane - buy everything in the same order as your tool hire. Next day delivery means it arrives when you need it, not three days before you start and gets rained on in the front garden.
Buy Garden & Landscaping Materials
Project 2: Fencing - Installing Wooden Fence Panels the Right Way
Fence panels don't replace themselves, unfortunately. Whether you're replacing storm-damaged sections or putting in an entirely new boundary, May is an ideal month to do it — the ground is workable without being waterlogged, and you'll want the new fence looking tidy before the garden is in full summer use.
Before anything else: check your title deeds to confirm which fence is legally yours to maintain. The convention (which is not universal) is that you own the fence on the left looking out from your back door, but this varies. Getting this right before spending money on new wooden fence panels is strongly recommended.
🪵Lap Fence Panel 6x6ft (Wooden Fence Panel)|Materials to Buy|DIY & Trade
The standard 1829x1829mm lap fence panel - the most widely used domestic fence panel in the UK. Dip treated for rot resistance, waney edge design, five support battens. Available to buy at HSS DIY with next day delivery. A solid fence starts with a solid panel.
🪵Closeboard Fence Panel 6x5ft|Materials to Buy|DIY & Trade
Vertical feather-edge boards give better rigidity than lap panels and a cleaner, more contemporary look. Dip treated for outdoor use with back rails for extra support. Available in 4ft, 5ft and 6ft heights from HSS DIY.
🔩Manual Post Hole Borer|Tool Hire|DIY - smaller gardens
Simple to operate, no fuel needed, creates clean 150mm diameter holes up to 700mm deep. Perfect for light to medium soil and a fence run of up to seven or eight posts. Quiet enough that the neighbours won't clock what you're up to until the fence goes up.
⛽1-Person Petrol Post Hole Borer|Tool Hire|DIY & Trade
For harder ground or longer runs of posts. Digs to 750mm with a hip cushion and vibration-damped handles for comfort. A 10-post job that would take an afternoon with a spade takes about 90 minutes. If you're doing a full garden boundary, this is the one.
Hire 1-Person Petrol Post Hole Borer
🌲All Fencing Materials|Materials to Buy|DIY & Trade
Fence posts, post spikes, concrete gravel boards, postcrete and wire mesh - buy all your fencing materials at HSS DIY in the same order as your tool hire. Your wooden fence panels, posts and fixings all delivered to your door, next day.
Project 3: Planting and Garden Clearance - Getting the Beds Ready
Decking and fencing get the big weekend slots. Planting tends to happen on the Sunday afternoon once everything else is done, which is fine - it's often quicker than people expect when the beds are properly prepared. The prep is the bit that takes time.
May is prime planting season across the UK for most shrubs, perennials, summer bedding and climbers. If you're clearing overgrown beds before planting, you'll need more than a pair of secateurs and an optimistic attitude.
🌿Garden Clearance Tools - Hire | Tool Hire | DIY & Trade
HSS DIY has a full range of garden clearance tools for hire - strimmers, brushcutters, hedge trimmers and chippers. If you're tackling seriously overgrown beds or thick woody growth ahead of planting, hiring a strimmer for the weekend makes the prep job genuinely manageable.
Hire Garden Clearance Equipment
🌱Digging & Cultivating Tools - Buy | Materials to Buy | DIY
Spades, border forks, trowels and hand tools from Bulldog, Faithfull and Kent & Stowe - the backbone of any planting project. These you buy, not hire. Add them to your order alongside your fence panels and decking materials for everything in one delivery.
Buy Digging & Cultivating Tools
🌺All Garden & Landscaping Supplies | Materials to Buy | DIY & Trade
Bark, topsoil, feed, seed, weedkiller, watering products - everything you need to get the garden looking properly sorted rather than 'nearly done'. Buy online at HSS DIY alongside your tool hire.
Watch Before You Start
Worth an hour on a Friday evening before the weekend project begins. These links prioritise HSS DIY content where it exists.
- HSS DIY YouTube - youtube.com/@HSSDIY - Project tutorials from The Home of Great Projects. Check here first for decking, fencing and garden tool guidance.
- How to build decking - search 'how to build decking UK' on YouTube. Look for content from UK home improvement channels. The key steps to watch: joist spacing, board fixings and how to trim around corners cleanly.
- How to install fence panels - search 'how to install fence panels UK'. HSS DIY has a how-to guide on building a garden fence on the website at hss.mom
- How to use a post hole borer safely - five minutes watching one before you fire it up saves a lot of time on site. The technique matters - steady pressure, let the auger do the work, don't force it.
Safety First - Worth Five Minutes of Your Time
Garden projects feel low-risk compared to, say, rewiring or structural work. Most of them are. But power tools and post hole borers deserve a bit of respect, and a few simple precautions mean you finish the weekend with all your fingers still attached and the neighbours still on speaking terms.
- Circular saw and jigsaw: wear safety goggles and ear defenders. Keep hands and fingers well clear of the blade path. Secure timber before cutting - never hold it freehand against a powered saw
- Post hole borer: check for buried services before starting. Wear gloves (the handles vibrate). For petrol models, never use indoors. The drill brake stops the auger if it jams - let it do its job, don't force past an obstruction
- Pressure washer: never point at people or animals. High-pressure water causes serious skin injuries. Wear waterproof boots - your trainers will be soaked in about 40 seconds if you don't
- Digging for post holes: always check for underground utilities before any excavation.
- Lifting fence panels: standard wooden fence panels weigh 15-25kg each. Two people for lifting and positioning - particularly in wind. May in the UK means unpredictable gusts, and a 6x6 panel is essentially a sail
- Treated timber: wear gloves when handling freshly treated timber. Wash hands before eating. If cutting treated wood, wear a dust mask - the preservative dust is not something you want to inhale
Full safety information for every hire item is listed on the product page at hss.mom. Safety equipment - goggles, gloves, dust masks - is available to buy at HSS DIY alongside your hire booking.
Useful External Sources
Planning Portal - Decking & Fencing Rules: planningportal.co.uk - Official guidance on permitted development rights for decking and boundary fencing.
RHS - Planting in May: rhs.org.uk/advice/grow-your-own/in-month/may-jobs - Month-by-month gardening advice from the Royal Horticultural Society. Authoritative UK seasonal planting guidance.
HSS DIY YouTube: youtube.com/@HSSDIY - Project tutorials and how-to guides from The Home of Great Projects.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between composite decking and standard decking boards?
Composite decking boards are made from a mix of wood fibre and plastic, which means they don't rot, warp or splinter in the way that softwood decking does, and they don't need annual treating. They cost more upfront but significantly less to maintain over 10 to 15 years. Timber decking boards - usually pressure-treated softwood - are cheaper to buy initially but need treating every one to two years and will eventually need replacing. For a busy family garden that gets heavy use, composite decking is usually the better long-term investment.
Which post hole borer should I hire for a fencing project?
For a small garden fence with soft soil and up to seven posts, the manual post hole borer is perfectly adequate and much quieter than a petrol model. For harder ground, clay soil, or a run of more than eight or ten posts, the 1-person petrol post hole borer from HSS DIY makes a significant difference to the time and effort involved. For large commercial fencing runs - farm, commercial, or landscaping contracts - the 2-person petrol model is the right choice. The rule: don't underestimate how quickly post hole digging by hand wears you out, especially on a warm May afternoon.
Do I need planning permission to build decking or install fence panels?
For most domestic decking projects, you don't need planning permission as long as the decking is under 30cm above ground level and covers less than 50% of the total garden area. Front garden decking may have additional restrictions. For fencing, the general rule is that boundary fences up to 2 metres high don't require planning permission - but fences adjacent to a highway or public footpath are limited to 1 metre. Always worth a quick check on the Planning Portal at planningportal.co.uk before you start.
What tools do I need to lay decking boards?
For a straightforward decking project, you'll need a circular saw (for cutting boards to length), a jigsaw (for any trim or curved cuts), a drill and bits, a spirit level and a tape measure. If you're dealing with an existing hard surface underneath, a pressure washer is handy before laying the frame. HSS DIY has all of these available to hire, and the circular saw, jigsaw and pressure washer can be ordered together with next day delivery in a single booking alongside your decking boards and materials.
How do I stop wooden fence panels rotting at the bottom?
The biggest single thing you can do is fit concrete gravel boards at the base of the fence panels, sitting between the posts. These keep the wooden fence panels off the soil — wet soil rots untreated timber surprisingly quickly. Adding post caps protects the top of the posts from water ingress. And treating the fence panels with a good quality fence paint or wood preservative every couple of years makes a real difference to lifespan. HSS DIY stocks fence and shed paint in the gardening and landscaping section - add it to your order while you're there.
What is the best time to plant in May in the UK?
May is an excellent time to plant perennials, summer bedding, climbers and shrubs across most of the UK. The ground is warm enough and the risk of frost is mostly behind us by mid-May in most regions, though northern England and Scotland can still see frost into the third week of May. If in doubt, check the Met Office 5-day forecast before planting anything tender. Hardy plants - hedging, shrubs, ornamental grasses - can go in any time through May without issue.
Right Then, Get the Garden Sorted
May is the window. The weather is cooperating, the tools are available for next day delivery, and that pile of decking boards is still giving you meaningful looks every time you go past the shed.
Whether you're laying composite decking boards for a maintenance-free outdoor space, replacing wooden fence panels that didn't survive the winter, or finally getting the planting beds under control - HSS DIY has the tools to hire and the materials to buy, all in one order. The garden won't do itself. But with the right kit, it might just do itself this weekend.
Three Projects. One Order. This Weekend.
Hire your circular saw, post hole borer and pressure washer, and buy your decking boards, fence panels and materials at hss.mom — online 24/7, next day delivery to your door.
Buy the materials. Hire the tools. One order. All in one place.
Get DIY Happy.
