What to Plant in May

Plant Seed

• Beans, beets, carrots, corn, cucumber, melons, okra, parsley, parsnip, peppers, pumpkins, radish, all squash, tomatoes.
• Annuals.
• Cannas, lilies, tuberous begonias.

Plant Seed: Greenhouse or Cold Frame

• Time for house cleaning.

Set Out Plants

• Eggplant, herbs, parsley, peppers, tomatoes, all vine crops.

Flowers

• Marigolds, zinnias, snapdragons, sunflowers, hollyhock, dahlias, lobelia, salvia, cosmos.

Vegetables

• Transplant tomatoes, eggplant and peppers as temperatures warm.
• At cooler elevations, transplant lettuce, cabbage family, collards and kale.
• Plant cilantro at two-week intervals for a steady supply.

Garden Maintenance

• Set out traps for earwigs, slugs, and whitefly.
• Thin pit fruits at or before pit hardening.
• Thin apples when 1/2 inch in diameter.
• Mow grass or cultivate soil around orchard to discourage thrips and plant bugs.
• Mulch around plants to control weeds and conserve moisture. Be sure to leave a small circle of bare soil around the base of each plant.
• Deep water trees and shrubs. Build water basins, but do not allow water to stand against the trunks.
• Prepare dahlia bed with rich soil.
• For continued bloom, cut off spent flowers.
• Hang strips of foil or CDs in fruit trees to help deter birds.
• As spring-flowering shrubs finish blooming, prune to shape, removing old and dead wood.
• Trim hedges; lightly trim azaleas, fuchsias, bushier plants.
• Thoroughly clean debris from ponds, fountains and bird baths.
• Check dates of Master Gardener classes.

Fertilize

• Strawberries (end of May).
• Kiwi, half recommended NPK.
• Young fruit trees, if missed in April.
• Cane berries after harvest.
• Rhododendron after bloom.
• Cool season turf grass.
• Roses at bloom start.
• Citrus.
• Corn: nitrogen when knee high.
• If you did not use slow-release fertilizer for summer bloomers, give them a feeding now.
• Fertilize vegetables monthly.
• Feed indoor plants with slow-release fertilizer.

Spray

Check the California Backyard Orchard website for current information.

• Apples and pears for codling moth: first treatment when fruits are 1/2 to 1 inch in diameter. For