May in the Texas Garden

To my fellow Texas Gardeners . . .

Gardening before the Texas heat hits is ON! It’s GO TIME and we have a lot we can do in the garden this month. Do you need to do all of them? No!

Do what you can and what you enjoy, gardening doesn’t need to be another chore.

If you aren’t enjoying it, cut back.

It’s time to put anything in the ground that you want growing this summer. Think squashes, melons, okra and zinnias - they all do well in our summer heat.

As always, don’t plant everything!

Plant what your family loves & you enjoy growing.

May Planting Guide:

• Transplants: Tomatoes, Peppers, Lavender, Rosemary, Eggplant. I purchase transplants for almost all of my herbs. It’s worth the investment to me since many of them are hard to grow from seed and come back each year.

  Direct Sow (plant seeds): Chamomile, Bee Balm, Lemon Balm, Calendula, Sunflower, Cosmos, Squash, Zinnias, Loofah, Nasturtiums. In addition to all of your summer fruits and vegetables.

May Gardening Tasks:

• Prune back any perennial herbs in your garden.

• Divide and move perennials.

• Prep your garden beds by adding compost and mulch.

• Check your sprinklers and/or drip irrigation for any needed repairs.

• Mow any unwanted wildflowers and/or weeds before they flower.

• Weed daily. What is a weed? Anything that’s not where you want it :)

• Deal with Pests:

  • Watch for aphids and spider mites, spray them off with a hard blast of water. Be sure to get the undersides of the leaves.

  • Ladybugs and green lacewings will be chomping down those aphids, so watch for them and their larvae and do a happy dance when you see them coming to your rescue!

  • Remove pests damaged leaves to the trash (not the compost pile).

  • Watch for tomato hornworms on tomatoes. Pull them off and feed them to chickens or release them elsewhere.

  • To fend off squash vine borers, keep row cover on and hand pollinate. Or take your chances with natural bee pollinators! Some other ways to deal with them organically, READ MORE

  • Walk the garden in early morning to pick off stink bugs from tomatoes. Check under the leaves for eggs.

  • Deal with grasshoppers while young. Here’s a good post with some all-natural ways to deal with them, READ HERE

    If you’d like to see a planting list for your specific area, the Almanac gives a comprehensive guide.

    Find it HERE.