May 2013
You may follow your heart’s desire
May is a very exciting month to garden. You can do almost anything your heart desires, from planting annuals, perennials, trees, and shrubs. What is most exciting is that it is time to plant your porch and patio containers, which is one of my favorite parts of gardening. Placing a colorful and lushly planted container on your front porch, back deck, or patio really brightens up the area. I also like to take many of my interior houseplants and my amaryllis collection outside for the summer. Please take care to place them in part shade to shade to prevent sunscald, which can be devastating to plants that are not acclimated to the intensity of the natural sun.

You may plant warm-season veggies
It is also full swing in the vegetable garden and is time to plant all your warm-season crops like tomatoes, peppers, beans, pumpkins, and more. I don’t like to rush the garden and it is perfectly appropriate to wait until the middle or end of May to plant particularly sweet and hot peppers, which prefer warm soils and consistently warmer air temperatures.

Grass may keep you hopping
Lawn grasses are growing so quickly now that you might need to mow twice a week to keep up. Make sure to keep your mower blade sharp to get the cleanest cut, which makes the lawn look much smoother after you mow. No fertilizers are needed or recommended at this time unless you have warm-season zoysia or Bermuda grass and should be avoided to prevent unnecessary growth. Weed control, on the other hand, is very important now and should be applied according to the package directions.

You may want to weed a little each day
Weeding is a necessary chore for spring, summer, and fall, so don’t let it get ahead of you. Pick a time each week to dedicate to just weed removal in your landscape beds. By doing a little every week it will keep your garden looking neat and clean. If you don’t feel the pressure to do it all at once, the time spent weeding can prove to a very relaxing time and you might start to look forward to it. There are both organic and nonorganic products available to assist you in weed control in the landscape. Consult your local garden center to see which ones are right for you.