update in 2022
What to do in the garden in May ? The estimable question is whatnotto do as May is likely the northern nurseryman ’s busiest calendar month . clean up , feed the soil , planting , weeding and plant life shopping are among the task to keep gardeners busy before the goal of the month .
Here ’s a forgetful list of garden chores for May :
Having two or more bins helps with turning compost.
During this month , many pollinator will give up their winter homes in your garden debris and it ’s secure to clean up the layer . This stand for thin down the spend flower stalks and force weeds . Some gardener use the“chop and drop”system rather than compost or hit dust .
As stain warms up , it is a unspoiled clip to spread compost or composted manure , especially on veggie beds to course the soil and get your seedlings off to a good starting signal . Be careful about where you get your compost , however , as Minnesota is seeing an increase in the number ofjumping wormspresent in the state . Most of the reports so far have been in the Twin Cities . Compost made on your own dimension is the best .
If you have seedlings in the house , now is the time to starthardening them offand pose them quick to plant outdoors . vegetable such as lettuce and other super acid , radish , pea and other coolheaded season crops can be planted out . Keep warm time of year crops under visible radiation or in a greenhouse until the dark temps are reliably in the 50s — hopefully that will happen in the next twain of calendar week , though soil will still be cool .
This formal container in a Duluth garden is a classic thriller, filler, spiller container.
It ’s a lot easier to put a cage or plant life hoop around a humble paeony or other floppy perennial now rather than afterwards . trellis , too , can come out of storage and get go down up for vines to rise up as the season progresses .
other May is a good time to plant potatoes , beet and other root crop . You could also seed some lettuce amid the ones you started indoors for a uninterrupted harvest . deem off until the close of the month or early June to found tomatoes , capsicum , eggplant and other warm time of year crops .
Perennial vegetables are the respectable — they just keep coming . If you are one of the lucky tribe with anasparagus patch , begin harvesting when the spears are 7 to 9 inch tall and continue until the fizgig part to get wide of the mark than a one-half inch or so in diam . Then it ’s time to rent the plant farm its ferns and stash away up energy for next twelvemonth . Rhubarbgenerally is not quick to harvest until mid to late May . Wait until the stalk are at least a pes long , then pull and rick them to harvest .
Mother ’s Day weekend is traditionally the time Minnesotans corrupt annual for container and beds . We can still get a rime after Mother ’s Day ( and this yr , it ’s early ) , so be fain to befuddle a sheet over the flowers or make for them in the house . Check out the deals at some of ourDiscount Partners .
This hardly seems like a “ chore ” but May is the time to start designing and set out your containers . Of naturally , you could buy beautiful containers ready - made from garden centre , or you could corrupt annuals and plan your own . Have playfulness with container ! Picka bold potto be on - course for this class , then fill it with a single salient works or a accumulation ofthrillers , makeweight and spillers .
Mary Lahr Schieris a Minnesota nurseryman , author and editor and author of The Northern Gardener , From Apples to Zinnias , 150 Years of Garden Wisdom ( Minnesota Historical Society Press , 2017 ) , winner of the Silver Award of Merit from GardenComm in 2018 . For 18 years , she delete Northern Gardener magazine , the publication of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society and the only magazine dedicated to gardening in USDA Zones 3 , 4 and 5 ..
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