What do you get when you cross Mother Nature and a willingness to experiment in the garden? Dolly Sickles, our Optimistic Gardener. When she isn’t working in the non-profit sector, she can generally be found brandishing her gardening gloves.

Gardening Tips for May

By Dolly R. Sickles

Posted: Apr 30, 2008

May is a great season in the garden, so here are some tips I've assembled for the month that may have been named for the Greek goddess Maia, the Roman goddess of fertility. Some of these come from a pretty comprehensive book, Gardening in the Carolinas Month-By-Month.

Plant your seeds at intervals to prolong garden color, about every 10 - 12 days, so they mature at different rates.
Plant warm season annuals now, like African Daisy, Marigold, Vinca, Geranium, Impatiens, Globe Amaranth, Petunia, and Salvia.
Prune your lavender and sage.
Raise your mower height by 1/4- to 1/2- inch as the temperature climbs (this encourages deeper root growth and reduces heat stress).
Clean up your plants and your flower beds.
Apply a slow-release fertilizer when new shoots emerge (follow the label directions for amount and frequency).

Got any more tips for gardening in May?

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