  |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Gardening in May |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
By the time May rolls around, you should probably be planting your first batch of vegetables. There should also be plenty of color in your yard as flowers bloom.This will also be a time to be planting your second batch of seeds or seedlings. Hopefully by now, you've conditioned your soil, or brought in a fresh load of it to add to your already existing garden, and have already started mant of your seeds indoors or in the greenhouse. By now, tomatoes should be about a foot tall, as should corn and peppers. Remember to harden off your vegetable plants, by placing them outside for a few hours each day for about a week before you actuially plant them in the garden. This is the time ofd year to get any new beds started, if your intention is to expand your garden from its previous size. Separate beds for potatoes, asparagus, and artichokes can be a lot of fun, if you've been planting in just one area for a while. Plant your onion sets now, and sow beets, cabbage, carrots, parsnip, lettuce, and your first batch of peas. Lettuce should be planted under cloches, or in plastic tunnels, and sow scallions ingrowing bags in an unheated greenhouse, or even an unused section of a tool shed or garage. This is also the time of year to pay attention to vining plants like grapes, and kiwis, as they'll need to be pruned of many of their branches, so that they put their energies into their main shoots. Many of your fruit trees will probably already have finished blooming, and you'll want to give them a good feeding as they beging fruit production. Wood ashes, compost, and well rotted manure are perfect for this kind of feeding. Don't forget about feeding your flowering plants as well. Your local nurseries will have a wide assortment of vegetable plants to help you get off to an early start, so that you can plant some more mature plants while you wait for your own starts to be ready for planting outdoors. You may also consider picking up any canning supplies that you'll need later in the season, so that you avoid any rush at the stores, and find thet the supplies you need are difficult to get you hands on. Once you have your garden pretty well established, you may want to take some steps to protect it. One of the best ways to protect your garden, or even your roses, from deer, is to simply put up some small stakes around the areas of concern, and run fishing line between... the deer can't see it, and they don't like the way it feels on their legs. If you have a means of attaching some PVC to the edges of your garden, you can create a simple hoop type frame, and cover it with bird netting, to protect tender seedlings. Be sure also, to take steps to ensure that watering is easy for you. Simply running hoses across the lawn is a really bad idea. Speaking from experience, it is really easy to forget about one, and catch it with a mower, not to mention that hoses leave their mark in your lawn after they are removed. This is the time of year when all kinds of babies are beginning to explore, and even if a species doesn't generally eat what you may have to offer, they will tend to experiment in their serach for a meal... especially deer. Watch out for baby birds on the ground as they are learning to fly... it isn't unusual for them to spend several days learning to fly, and search for food on their own. Some people enjoy feeding birds, but at this time of year, consider allowing them the time to learn to find their own food for a while, and wait to start feeding them until later in the season, when foraging becomes more difficult. Before long, you'll be able to start enjoying some fresh salads. Break out some old cookbooks, and read up on some recipies if you feel like you want to experiment a bit. There are tons of nutritious recipies out there for vegetable dinners. Some of the older cookbooks have the best. You'll end up making something that Grandma would say she hasn't had in years. Grandmothers are a great source for recipies, and it probably wouldn't take much to get any grandparent to help out on canning days. Remember, it wasn't that long ago, that life wasn't as convenient as it is now. Many of our grandparents came from homes where it was common to plant the garden, and can the vegetables for use later in the year. They can be a great source of information, and passing it on to you, is an honor for them as well as you. |
Healthy Nutrition Growing Herbs Recipes Winter gardening Seeds Artichokes Asparagus Beans Beets Broccoli Brussels Sprouts Cabbage Cantaloupe Carrots Cauliflower Celery Corn Cucumbers Eggplant Garlic Kale Kohlrabi Leeks Lettuce Melons Okra Onions Peas Peppers Potatoes Pumpkins Squash Sunflowers Tomatoes Watermelons |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| :
Pacific
Northwest Gardening : Herbal Beers :
Herbs and
Natural Remedies :
Eat Well To Be
Well : Refelting Your Pool Table : Audio Bar and Grill : My Internet Business Strategy : : Healthy Recipe of the Week : My Web Gal : |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||