Gary Crispell NC State Extension Master GardenerSM volunteer of Durham County
IT’S MAY!! A most delicious month in North Carolina. A Goldilocks month, if you will. Not too hot. Not too cool. Just right (mostly).
(From left to right) Dianthus barbatus flower detail DncnH CC POR 2.0, Coreopsis flowers and leaves Andrey Zharkikh CC POR 2.0, Bellis leaves and flowers Morgaine CC-BY-SA 2.0 Credito de imagen: NCSU Plant Tool box
The Accidental Cottage Garden (ACG) is pleased and showing great promise. Already there are multi-hued sweet Williams (clavel barbatus) and dainty mock vervain (Glandularia bipinnatifida) (such a remarkably long name for such a fragile looking little flower). Standing much taller are lance leaf coreopsis (C. lanceolata), margaritas inglesas (Bellis perennis), fire pinks (Dianthus x Firewitch), bearded iris (Iris germánica), an iris that has teased (frustrated?) me for five years, blue flag (I. versicolor), and crimson clover (Trifolium incarnatum). The peonies (Peaonia suffruticosa x Hybrid) made a brief yet spectacular showing the week it was in the mid to upper 80s. Perhaps they would have lasted longer had the weather been more to their liking. Interestingly absent were the five spots (Nemophilia maculate). Interesting because we seeded part of THE BANK (on Washington St.) with seed left over from the ACG and there are a lot of five spots there. Hmmmmm.
Enough about me (well, actually about the ACG). LET’S GARDEN!!
CUIDADO DEL CÉSPED:
Warm season grass folks, it’s your turn. If you didn’t fertilize your lawn in April, what are you waiting for? Put out an appropriate amount (Data taken from the SOIL TEST you submitted last fall) of slow release fertilizer on your Bermuda or zoysia and hope that nature graces us with adequate moisture to get it into the soil. Cool season folks, you may put a moderate amount of a balanced (10-10-10 or equivalent) fertilizer on your fescue, bluegrass or perennial rye lawn with the same caveats as applied to the warm season people. Sharpen those mower blades. A clean cut is less stressful on the grass. (It’ll cut down on lawn therapy bills). Keep cool season lawns at 3”-4”in height. It helps shade the roots when it gets hot.
FERTILIZACIÓN:
Speaking of such, long season vegetables like tomatoes, beans, squash, and other similar kinds will benefit from a side dressing of a balanced fertilizer 6-8 weeks post germination. What?! You didn’t start your vegetable plants from seed? You bought them from a Big Box?? Sigh. Give them a week or two in the ground and then do likewise. While you have the bag open throw a handful at your summer annuals and perennials, too. Rhododendrons including azaleas and other ericaceous (acid loving) plants would appreciate a light fertilizing now.
SIEMBRA:
May is the second best time in the veggie garden. (Everybody knows that harvest is really the best time). It is time to plant beans (snap, pole, bush lima, etc.), cantaloupe, cucumbers, eggplant, okra, southern peas, peppers (sweet and hot), pumpkins, squash, watermelons, and for those of you who don’t compete in the, “first tomato on the block”, contest; tomatoes. Gladioli bulbs and dahlia tubers may be planted now as well as begonias, geraniums, and any annuals you didn’t plant in April (and didn’t have to cover last week).
PODA:
Spring flowering shrubs (e.g. azaleas, gardenias, etc.) may be pruned as soon as the blooms fade. Azaleas, in particular, can be pruned up to the fourth of July without cutting off next year’s buds. Overgrown hedges and shrubs can be pruned still. Keep pinching back garden mums until mid-July if fall flowers are the goal. Hand prune out azalea and camellia leaf galls. They are generally benign to the plant, but are not the least bit attractive. I know your grandmother always cut the foliage off her daffodils and iris as soon as the blooms were gone. Please resist the urge to continue that tradition. The bulbs (tubers) need the foliage to produce the sugars that provide the energy they need to be able to recreate the show next year. Wait for the foliage to yellow before amputating it and relegating it to the compost heap. The bulbs will thank you.
PULVERIZACIÓN:
Monitor rhododendron species including azaleas for borers. Spray as necessary. Spray iris beds for borers which you most likely will not see. They attack the tubers. BOLO (be on the lookout) for bag worms. They doff their bags this month looking for…well you know. It is the only time spraying them is effective. May is a good time to attempt to eliminate poison ivy/oak (Rhus radicans). Also, Japanese honeysuckle (Lonicera japonica). If you have a lot of it, the late Bill Smith, former owner of Crooks Corner, has a great recipe for honeysuckle sorbet. It is featured in this month’s Our State magazine. Begin spraying squash vines for borers. This will be a weekly thing until the end of June. Monitor blueberry plants (Vaccinium sps.) for borers. Spray as necessary. Continue the never ending chore of spraying roses for a wide variety of things. Ditto for fruit trees and bunch grapes. And them there are all the ubiquitous and voracious summer insects and arachnids including lace bugs on azaleas and pyracantha, boxwood leaf miners who should be out of the leaves doing the same thing the bag worms are doing by the end of the month, euonymus and tea scales, aphids on anything at any time, and the bane of my existence, white flies. They are pernicious. Keep an eye on your tomatoes for any signs of blight and spray as soon as any appear. Always, always only spray when necessary and READ & FOLLOW label directions.
OTHER THINGS TO DO OUTSIDE IN MAY THAT ARE POSSIBLY GARDEN RELATED (or not):
- Celebrate May Day. You don’t have to do a maypole weave. (Does anyone even know how to do that anymore)?
- Celebrate Cinco de Mayo obviously with Mexican cuisine and tequila. OK, the tequila could be optional, maybe.
- Cosas de mantillo.
- Put out an American flag on Memorial Day before you head for the beach and thank a veteran.
IT’S MAY, Y’ALL. ‘Nuff said.
Recursos e información adicional
- Bagworms: NCSU Bagworms in Ornamental Landscapes
- How invasive plants affect NC: NC-IPC Plant Invasives
- List of invasive plants in NC to consider removing: NC IPC list of invasive plants.
- Tomato Late Blight: Fact sheet from NCSU extention
- NCSU planting guide for veggies, fruits. A garden calendar/timeline
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