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May Gardening Tips

Plant

Still time to plant summer vegetables - artichokes, beans, beets, carrots, corn, eggplant, radishes, lettuce, melons, peppers, pumpkins, radishes, squash, sunflowers, Swiss chard and tomatoes. Try some heirloom types like peach tomatoes, Moon and Stars watermelon or Black Valentine beans.
Plant tropical and subtropical flowers and shrubs: bougainvillea, brugmansia, brunfelsia, calliandra, canna, golden trumpet tree, hibiscus, lantana, plumeria and yellow oleander.
Plant tropical vines like clerodendrum, dalechampia, mandevilla, passionflowers and stephanotis.
Install warm season lawns by seed, sod or stolons; St. Augustine, Bermuda, buffalo grass and zysia.

Feed & Fertilize

Feed ferns with an organic liquid fertilizer every two or three weeks now through fall.
Feed indoor plants monthly to aid the growth of leaves and roots.
Feed roses with Whitney Farms Life Links Rose Food. This will double the nutrient uptake capability of rose roots. An application of Worm Gold Plus should be done at this time.
Fertilize camellias and azaleas when they have finished blooming with cottonseed meal and Organic Advantage Soil Builder. Apply three inches of mulch to reduce summer moisture stress. Keep mulch off stem and trunk of plant.
Use a good organic vegetable fertilizer on eggplant, peppers and tomatoes to encourage early crops and thick foliage that prevents sunburned fruit. The Organa Veggie Garden and Tomato is ideal.
If you missed April lawn fertilizer but sure to do this in May.

Prune/Trim/Clean

Prune winter and spring flowering vines, bushes, trees, groundcovers after they complete their bloom cycle.
De-thatch Bermuda grass lawns. The warm weather will help them recover quickly.
Thin vegetable seedlings to prevent crowding. More space will give healthier and larger vegetables. Worm Gold Plus can boost the health and vigor of the plants and provide some protection against insect damage.
Cur back chrysanthemums to 12 inches for more flowers with shorter stems in the fall.
If needed, divide and replant cymbidium orchids just after blooming.