Annuals:  Finish planting.  To prevent hanging baskets from drying out faster than you choose to water them, line a large wire basket with sphagnum moss, put a plastic pot inside it, and cover the soil and edges with moss.  Polymers help, too.

Bulbs:  A feeding of bulb booster will help compensate for frozen leaves or leaves removed early.  In late May or early June plant warm weather bulbs such as caladiums, cannas, and elephants ears.

Herbs:  Most herbs need full sun.  Those like mint which spread aggressively (eat their neighbors), can be planted in a container sunk into the soil.  To cook with fresh herbs, use about three times as much as you would dried.

Houseplants:  The time has come – you can move them outside!  Place plants in a shady location for a week or two before moving them into direct sunlight.  Consider leaving fragile plants like fichus and beefsteak begonia inside.

Lawns:  This is a period of rapid growth.  Happy lawns are shorn no more than 1/3 the height of the leaf blade.  Do not try to save work by doing a buzz job or it will send the root system into shock.  Bermuda – apply a second pre-emergence crabgrass control treatment between May 15 and June 15. Fescues – fertilize with nitrogen only, check for sod webworm larvae and control it necessary.

Perennials:  Finish planting, mulching as you go.  Labels help you remember names and placement.  Watch for leaf holes and silvery trails on Hosta foliage – slugs!

Roses:  Watch for aphids.  Continue fungicide sprays.  Do not spray roses when the temperature rises above 75 degrees if the sun is shining.  Fertilize.  Container-grown roses can be planted until May 15.  Prune climbing roses as soon as they have finished blooming.  Cut some of the oldest wood to the ground or to a strong new shoot.

Tree/Shrubs:  Prune spring-flowering shrubs after they bloom.  Later pruning may remove next year’s blossoms.  Prune hedges.  Mulch to reduce weeds and retain soil moisture for dry periods coming.  Fertilize azaleas & rhododendrons after they bloom.  If rhododendrons & azaleas do not need to be trimmed, be sure to deadhead so they do not devote energy to forming seeds.  Deadhead lilacs, too.

Vegetables:  Mid-May plant bush and pole snap beans, bush and pole lima beans, cucumbers, eggplants, peppers, squash, and tomatoes. Water as needed.  Monitor frequently for disease and insects.  Mulching tomatoes not only conserve water and chokes out weeds, but also prevents splitting and cracking.

Hint:
Normally May is a time to finish planting.  The tiny seedlings may look puny now but in a few weeks they will change  dramatically.  Space them appropriately. You may be tempted to make you May garden look like a July garden…..but don’t. They need space and air.  Don’t forget to mulch everything that you put in.  You will be glad you did later.