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From YouTube: Garden Chores - May
Description
Keeping up with the seasons in your garden can sometimes be tricky. When do you plant for Spring? When do you harvest your vegetables? How do you keep those critters out of your garden? Learn to improve your green thumb with the answers to those and much more.
Join Master Gardener Linda Blue of the North Carolina Office of Cooperative Extension for need-to-know gardening tips and chores for the month of May. For more information you can call the office of Cooperative Extension at (828) 255-5522.
A
In
western
north
carolina
may
is
probably
the
most
exciting
month
in
the
garden
those
perennials
are
coming
up.
Everything
is
turning
green
and
it's
time
to
plant
a
lot
of
things,
especially
flowers
and
vegetables.
In
the
garden.
Everyone,
it
seems,
is
wanting
to
plant
a
vegetable
garden
this
spring.
A
If
you
did
plant
an
early
garden
a
month
or
so
ago,
by
the
first
part
of
may,
it's
really
wonderful
that
you
already
have
that
fresh
lettuce
and
spinach
and
things
ready
to
harvest
it
won't
be
much
longer
before
you
have
broccoli
and
by
the
end
of
the
month,
those
wonderful
english,
peas
and
snow
pod
peas
will
be
coming
in.
But
don't
worry
if
you
didn't
plant
a
garden,
yet
you
really
are
not
too
late.
The
early
part
of
may
is
just
getting
to
be
time
to
plant
those
warm
season
summer.
A
This
doesn't
even
have
to
be
expensive,
look
around
and
see
what
you
might
be
able
to
recycle
for
containers.
For
example,
this
five
gallon
bucket
that
has
drainage
holes
drilled
in
the
bottom
for
water
drainage
has
been
growing
a
cherry
tomato
plant
for
several
summers
now
or
something
like
this.
Three
gallon
nursery
pot
would
be
just
fine
for
a
cucumber
plant,
a
few
green
beans,
leafy
greens
or
any
number
of
other
things.
A
Even
a
hanging
basket
pot
can
be
used
to
grow
an
herb
plant,
a
bush
type
cucumber
plant,
even
a
small
cherry
tomato
plant
or
get
creative
with
even
something
like
this
old
recycled
dish
pan
with
plenty
of
holes
drilled
in
the
bottom
for
drainage.
This
is
a
great
container
for
growing
things
like
salad,
greens,
radishes
and
so
forth.
A
If
you
are
new
to
planting
vegetables,
do
pay
special
attention
to
those
planting
dates.
It's
really
important
to
not
plant
those
summer
vegetables
too.
Early
about
the
fifth
of
may
is
the
earliest
for
those
plants
that
can't
tolerate
the
cold
temperatures
and
possibly
even
later
so
be
watching
that
weather
forecast.
A
If
you
are
planting
transplants,
you
want
to
make
sure
to
get
them
planted
in
at
the
right
depth
now
for
tomato
plants.
This
is
just
about
a
perfect
sized
tomato
plant,
nice
and
sturdy
and
stocky,
not
too
tall
and
spindly.
Now
for
most
of
our
tomato
plants,
we're
going
to
plant
them
in
just
right
at
about
the
depth
that
they
were
already
growing,
maybe
just
a
little
deeper
than
the
top
of
that
pot
for
a
tomato
plant,
though
this
is
the
one
exception
to
that
rule
where
you
can
actually
plant
this
tomato
plant
much
deeper.
A
Removing
these
bottom
leaves
from
the
plant
and
planting
it
all.
The
way
up
to
you've
only
got
a
few
inches
of
that
plant
exposed,
because
this
tomato
plant
will
actually
develop
roots
all
along
that
buried
stem
now.
That
planting
date
also
pertains
to
your
seeds
as
well.
If
you
put
things
like
seeds
for
squash
melons
cucumbers
beans
into
the
garden
too
early
before
the
soil
temperature
gets
up
to
about
60
to
70
degrees.
Those
seeds
are
just
going
to
lay
there,
and
some
of
them
will
actually
rot
before
they
ever
germinate.
A
If
you
have
a
strawberry
bed,
or
perhaps
you
planted
a
strawberry
bed
last
spring,
you
will
have
ripe
strawberries
ready
to
pick
about
every
other
day
here
about
the
middle
of
the
month
of
may.
However,
if
you
just
planted
a
strawberry
bed
this
spring
or
perhaps
blueberries,
it
is
important
to
remove
those
flower
blossoms
now
for
blueberries.
You
really
should
do
this
for
the
first
two
springs,
because
it's
important
that
these
plants
put
all
of
their
energy
into
growing
a
nice
big
plant
and
root
system
before
they
start
producing
fruit.
A
Elsewhere
in
the
landscape,
probably
one
of
the
things
keeping
you
busiest
is
keeping
up
with
mowing
the
lawn
most
of
us
are
growing
fescue
lawns,
which
we
want
to
mow
at
about
three
inches
high.
This
might
be
a
good
time
to
get
out
the
ruler
and
measure
the
height
of
your
mower
blade
to
make
sure
that
you're
mowing
high
enough.
Of
course,
you
also
want
to
mow
frequently
enough
to
where
you're
not
removing
more
than
a
third
of
that
grass
blade
at
a
time.
A
So
try
not
to
go
too
long
in
between
mowings,
hopefully
by
now,
you
also
are
using
a
mulching
lawnmower
so
that
it
makes
it
easy
to
recycle
those
grass
clippings
by
leaving
them
right
on
the
lawn
and
really
the
mowing
is
all
that
you
should
be
doing
for
the
lawn
this
time
of
year
by
the
time
we've
gotten
into
may
it's
much
too
late
to
be
putting
on
fertilizer
or
pre-emergent,
herbicide
elsewhere
in
the
landscape.
It
is
a
good
time
to
do
a
lot
of
planting.
A
Similarly,
if
you're
going
to
plant
warm
season
bulbs,
I
like
these
gladiola
bulbs
or
these
dahlia
roots,
I
would
recommend
not
putting
them
in
the
ground
too
early,
while
the
ground
is
still
cold.
It's
best
to
wait
until
about
the
middle
of
may
till
the
soil
has
warmed
up
before
planting
these
roots.
A
Now
that
things
are
up
like
our
hostas
and
daylilies,
which
can
be
divided
this
time
of
year
or
yarrow,
that
you
can
cut
chunks
out
of
to
move
around
in
the
garden
or
to
share
with
friends
or
perhaps
just
to
kind
of
thin
out
your
bed,
there
are
a
lot
of
activities
that
you
can
take
care
of
in
the
garden
this
time
of
year.
For
many
gardeners
a
handy
tool
to
know
what
time
of
year
you
should
do
different
activities
is
our
buncombe
county
gardeners
almanac.
A
You
can
stop
by
the
extension
office
anytime
and
purchase
one
of
these
handy
guides
that
has
a
month
by
month,
list
of
the
gardening
chores
that
you
should
be
taking
care
of
each
month.
If
you
have
additional
gardening
questions,
be
sure
to
give
us
a
call
at
cooperative
extension,
call
our
master
gardener
hotline,
that's
in
full
swing
this
time
of
year
at
255-5522.