May Garden Tasks
The activity in your gardens is about to go up a few notches as the days get longer, warmer and there is still adequate natural rainfall. The lawn will need regular mowing and shrubs pruning. Now that the apple trees have blossomed the odds of a last frost have passed. This means that the frost tender plants can now be moved out into the garden. But if you plan on growing any heat loving plants you would be wise to grow them under a garden row cover. The easiest to use is the floating row cover made of Remay (spun polyester), which don’t require any types of supports. It is so light that the plants will grow right up into it. You can use it to give a speedy start to warm weather vegetable seedlings as well as direct sown seeds. Another good idea when starting seeds outdoors is to gauge the soil temperature. Many seeds will not germinate at low soil temperature and may rot before the temperatures are right for germination. A good soil thermometer is essential to guage when to plant seeds as well as transplant seedlings.