May 2021

When apple-trees in blossoms are,

And cherries of a silken white;

And king-cups deck the meadows fair,

And daffodils in brooks delight;

When golden wall-flow'r blooms around,

And purple violets scent the ground,

And lilac 'gins to show her bloom —

We then may say the May is come

Except from May, by John Clare

Despite what the calendar says, here in New England, we enter May in spring, and by the end we are in summer, it is a month of immense transformation. Throughout the month, the garden unfolds before our eyes, the longer day light, the warm days and cooler nights, the rain, all mix together and plants grow with a vigor that is unparalleled. My experience is that perennial plants (who don’t mind the cold), that get planted out mid April to mid may of May perform exponentially better than those planted just a little bit later, say end of May beginning of June, there is just so much energy of growth that they tap into. 

We spent the weekend, celebrating the coming of May by working in our gardens, creating planting beds, planting, mulching, painting a chicken coop, moving endless wheelbarrows of compost, pretty the bee hives for the new bees, planting potatoes and in general, out working in the garden until it was too dark too see, just the way we like to spend a weekend in the spring. 

Jobs in the garden

May is the month of the garden, the month of getting hands in the soil and planting things out! As we finish sorting out the structure in our annual gardens we start planting out, always watching the weather. Slowly we bring seedling out, let them test their wings a bit and covering them back up if it is going to be to chilly at night. We start planting out more and more, and by the end of the month the green house is cleared out of all the tables and trays and instead tomatoes create a jungle inside.

Staking / Supports for Plants

It is easy to put this task off, I often do, thinking you still have time, but the truth is, plants never look good if that have collapse or been knocked over by winds, no matter what you do to prop them back up. So now is a great time to set out your stakes or other garden supports for your plants. The young plants will soon grow over and disguise the supports, but your plants will have the added structure. You can use a number of things, you can buy or make metal supports, use stakes and string, or even weave or bend willow to create support structures. 

Planting out Tomatoes

I usually plant my tomatoes sometime between mid way and the end of the month, it really depends on what the weather has been like for the first half of the month and then what that 10 day forecast says. You really don’t want nights in the low 40’s, they will survive but could be set back from the shock. When you do plant them out, strip off the lower leaves and plant them deep, they will root along their hairy stem, and they will be much sturdier for it. I have grown tomatoes a number of ways and their are various strategies for it, but I typically grow them as cordons, trained up a tall stake, I find this lets me get a good harvest, more tightly spaced, and keep them supported.

Planting out Seedlings

I have already started planting out things that like growing in cool conditions, the snap peas are growing strongly, lettuces and beets are happy, the calendula is popping up everywhere and I am just moving it around the garden. Over the weekend I planted out the kale, Swiss chard, cabbages and broccoli, and I am just so excited to be moving things out of the crammed greenhouse! 

By mid month I usually feel safe to plant out seedlings, like cosmos, zinnia, dahlia’s, etc. Then sometime between Mother’s Day and the end of the month I plant out the last bit that won’t tolerate any cold, melons, peppers, eggplant, cubes, tomatoes, etc. Usually, as we hit Mother’s Day, I am eyeing that 10 day forecast and planning when I am planting out what. It is better to wait a bit longer if we are have nights in the low forties. 

I like to harden my seedlings off before planting them out. As it gets warmer I leave the green house open and along air to move through it, about a week to a few days before planting out I start bring the plants out and setting them in sheltered places around the garden. If it is too cold I will bring them back in and then back out when it warms. This is a bit of a song and dance, but it does make transplanting less shocking for the plants. 

Direct Seeding

Now is the time to direct seed many annuals, radishes, beets, lettuces, etc. If you are going that route. I don’t direct seed as much, I like to get a jump by growing as many things as possible in the greenhouse and I also have young children and pets, and tiny little seeds on the ground are not likely to go undisturbed. But I do direct seed a few things, radishes, beets, cilantro, dill and beans. I love growing Scarlet runner beans, they function both as a stunning ornament that adds a very long bloom season and height, as well as being a delicious edible, I will probably sow my runner beans in the next few weeks.  

Bulbs

Don’t cut back the foliage on your bulbs, they need to continue to gather and store energy for nexts year’s bloom. You can dead head your tulips, this will stop them from producing seed and instead send all their energy into their roots. If you do want to move bulbs, wait until they have finished flowering, then carefully lift them and move them, I find them easier to more before the foliage dies all the way back, as it is hard to spot them at that point. 

Rhubarb

As the Rhubarb grows, it will start to send out seed heads, stay on top of those and remove them the second you spot them, you want all the vigor going into the stalks, not in producing seed. If you have an establish crown, you can start harvesting this month (just watch your plant to know when it is ready), don’t cut the stocks, hold them right down at the base and twist, it should pop right off. If your crown is newly planted, don’t harvest, let it settle in. 

Mulch

As you are preparing beds and planting plants, make sure you give your garden a good thick layer of mulch. This will do a few things, it will help reduce weed pressure as well as keep the soil form drying out as quickly. But it also looks really nice. We use terra mulch (which is composted leaves) from Brick Ends in all of our garden beds that we can get to. You need a thick layer. This year, we are trying out something in one of the new annual gardens. We are mulching with compost. We are trying this out for two reasons, one, the soil is very poor, even after digging in compost to the beds, I feel that the extra nutrients that will filter down as we water will help, and two, we had a whole pile of it this weekend. If I feel that experiment fails, I will just weed the beds and then top them with terra mulch, I feel it is a pretty low risk endeavor.