This May was ideal and the garden responded with an amazing amount of zucchini, tomatoes, Kale, Swiss Chard, spring lettuce, fresh herbs, bell and chili peppers, fairy tale eggplant plus more. I had so many heirloom and vine ripe tomatoes this year that I spent a fair amount of time canning, drying and making sauces. The mild winter and warm April really set the tomato plants off and running. My single zucchini plant has managed to continuously produce 3 to 4 large Zucs per week and is still going strong. It was a great month for red bell peppers as well and the chili peppers as usual provided a large harvest that we have been drying and producing our own chili pepper flakes and cayenne powder. May is always the time in which I harvest and dry a lot of the herbs (basil, thyme, oregano, sage, tarragon, marjoram) and for the first time this year I added a new herb, savory, that in May starting growing stronger, so hope to have this established this year. This May I decided to plant a good number of sunflowers in many different areas of the garden to provide food for the bees, natural shade for some of the plants and in the end hopefully some sunflower seeds for us. These sun lovers are starting to form the flowers and seems like they grow a foot a day. The cosmos also starting blooming in May, so we continue to have a wonderful array of colorful flowers with Tidy Tips, Zinnia, Marigolds and the Lavender is blooming as well.
This year was the first time I have grown pumpkins and gourds and I have harvested several pumpkins so far, but still waiting to see if we get any gourds.
Highlights
- Cooler weather in the month of May allowed for a final planting of lettuce before the summer.
- More Bee's than previous year - last year we saw very few bee's in the garden, but this year the numbers were up and maybe a sign of some recovery in the bee population.
- We had a new flower in the garden this year called Aquilegia (Columbine). These grow well in a shady area.
Lolights
- I always plant a lot of Garlic in October around the garden, but unfortunately a lot of them never matured this year, but they still help deter the bad bugs.
"Hot" Topic
Getting the garden ready for the hot summer:
- Make sure you Mulch to retain moisture and keep the ground cooler. I prefer shredded coconut shells and you should have 4-6" of coverage.
- You may need to cover some plants from the intense all day sun, but you should not reduce sunlight by more than 50%.
Tip of the Month
- Try using Sunflowers as natural shade for sensitive plants in the hot summer months.
June Don't List
1. Don't prune citrus trees
2. Don't shade - Corn, Squash, Melon, Black-eyed Peas, Okra, Grapes
June Planting
Seeds: Cucumbers, Squash, Cantaloupe, Muskmelon, Sunflower
Transplants: Sweet Potato (these do great in the summer heat and are very pretty ground cover vine)
Recipe of the Month
Zucchini - Herb Fritters w/garlic yogurt
- Zucchini Fritters - Garlic
Yogurt
Favorites
Garden Books: Extreme Gardening by Dave Owens and Desert Gardening for Beginners by Cathy Cromell, Linda Guy and Lucy Bradley.
Web Sites:
May Pictures