By Karyna Barrera, UC Master Gardener Coordinator
Spring is in full bloom and the weather is warming up! It’s the busiest time of year for gardeners, and we hope you’ve been enjoying planting and seeing your gardens grow!
May is the time to direct seed cucumbers, melons, summer squash, beans, corn, and annual herbs.
You can plant sunflowers, zinnias, cosmos, marigolds, and aster in the flower garden.
Remember to fertilize summer blooming flowers early in the month.
Apply (or re-apply as needed) organic mulch to all beds to keep the soil cool and enrich the soil. Be sure to leave space around the base of the plants.
Trim the dead flowers but not the leaves from spring bulbs. The leaves restore the bulb; so wait to remove them until they turn yellow. Fertilize the bulbs after the bloom is finished with bone meal.
Later in the month, prune spring flowering shrubs to shape, removing old and dead wood. The plants flower on the growth that happens during the summer; do not prune in the fall or winter or you will have no flowers on the shrub.
Continue the battle against slugs and snails.
Deadhead (cut off spent flowers) to get continuing blooms on annuals and perennials.
Thin peach, plum, and nectarine trees so there is 6” between fruits for large juicy fruit.