Seasonal Gardening Calendar
May
The sun is coming out, so wearing hats and sunscreen are a must. Plant Rosemary, Dill, Basil and other herbs to use in time for some tasty summer meals.
-
MAY Week 1
May Shopping List
Download a lawn care calendar
No matter which grass, your turf will look its best if you follow a calendar of maintenance tasks. Download your lawn calendar at Lawn Care Calendars.
Treat azaleas for lace bugs
Treat for azalea lace bugs if you’ve had problems in the past. Insecticidal soap, horticultural oil and synthetic insecticide chemicals all work well, sprayed under the leaves.
Check trees for beetles
Look for tiny “toothpicks” on the trunk of your Japanese maple, Kwansan cherry and other small landscape trees. The Asian ambrosia beetle is spreading death-dealing fungus inside the trunk.
Plant Summer flowers
Plant begonias, coleus, geraniums, petunias and vinca for summer-long color in your landscape.
Level your lawn
Fill the ruts and low spots in your lawn with a 1:1 mixture of sand and topsoil. Sweep with a broom afterwards to expose growing grass blades.
Our Seasonal Gardening Calendar contains affiliate links to products that we recommend and use ourselves. If you use these links to buy something we may earn a commission. Thanks.
-
MAY Week 2
Ward off caterpillars
Apply Bacillus thuringiensis to cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower to ward off cabbage looper caterpillar damage as these plants mature.
Trim crepe myrtles
Snip off sprouts from the base and lower trunk of crepe myrtles that are being trained to grow in an upright tree form.
Remove dead limbs
Remove leafless limbs from shade trees. If they don’t have leaves by now, they won’t be coming back.
Divide your irises
Dig, divide and transplant your crowded irises to a better location, if needed, after they bloom.
Prune azaleas
Prune early-flowering azaleas now that they have finished blooming. Remove tall sprouts at their base, inside the shrub.
-
MAY Week 3
Prune rhododendrons
Pinch out the growing tips of rhododendron limbs now that flowers are gone. You’ll get many more flowers next year.
Plant herbs
Plant rosemary, basil, oregano, dill and other herbs for savory summer meals.
Mulch tomatos
Place a newspaper mulch 10 sheets thick under tomato plants to prevent leaf diseases. Cover with any organic mulch.
Plant more vegetables
Plant corn, squash, beans and peas now that the soil is quite warm. Make another planting of corn in two weeks.
Make an automatic waterer
Drill a one eighth inch hole in the cap of a two liter soft drink bottle. Fill the bottle, cap it and upend it in the soil of your patio plants to slowly water them during the day.
-
MAY Week 4
Control fire ants
Control fire ants by lightly scattering a bait over your lawn. Forty-eight hours later, use an insecticide on any large mounds you can see. Repeat in September.
Apply sunscreen
Get in the habit of wearing a hat and sunscreen whenever you work in the sun. Skin cancer cases are on the rise.
Water your plants
Plants need an inch of water per week. What’s an inch of water? If rainfall or irrigation fills an empty soup can to a depth of one inch, that’s just what plants need.
Help your houseplants
Don’t put rocks in the bottom of houseplant pots. They actually decrease drainage and aeration for the plant roots.
Water at night
The best time to water is between 10:00 p.m. and 10:00 a.m. This allows the grass to dry before nightfall the next day and prevents disease.