May
May Day marks the beginning of the peak of growth month and the sunniest quarter of the year! It's a great day to fertilize almost everything. Be sure to water your fertilizer in. There will be no significant rain until October.
Ranunculus
fields in Santa Maria this month!
Prune azaleas when bloom is finished. This is one plant that should be
shaped with hedge shears to maximize the flowers for next year.
Prune Shrubs
Prune other spring bloomers to thin and to shape. Prune lilacs just below the spent flowers. Remove entire canes at the base of forsythia, spirea, quince and other multi-stemmed shrubs. You can continue to prune all spring bloomers until August. Branches you prune during August will not have time to form flower buds for next year.
Cut off dead flowers on annuals and perennials to keep new blossoms coming.
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Fruit trees produce many more fruit than they can mature. Some of the immature fruit fall off naturally in late spring, a phenomenon known as June drop. Thin the small fruit on apples, pears, apricots, plums, peaches and nectarines. Thin to about 3 inches apart for apricots and plums, 6 inches apart for larger fruit like peaches and nectarines. Thin apples to the best apple in each cluster. Each apple or peach will be larger and tastier, and the branches will not be weighted down to the breaking point. |
Beginning now and continuing through the summer, lawns will require an
inch of water every week -- two inches during hot spells and in hot
inland locations. Water in the morning before the winds come up. The
lawn will be dry in the afternoon. This will discourage fungus
diseases.
Water
If you have brown spots in your lawn, it is 99% certain that your lawn is not getting enough water. Proper watering will keep the soil moist down to 6 to 8 inches. Shallow watering is the number one cause of brown spots and thin, weedy lawns. Test for water penetration with a large screwdriver. It should easily penetrate 6 to 8 inches. If the turf is to dry, you won't be able to push it that far.
Often, only parts of the lawn are dry. This may be due to uneven watering. Sprinkler systems should have head to head coverage, that is, there should be 100% overlap between sprinkler heads. One sprinkler head should spray clear to the next one!
Fertilize azaleas, camellias, gardenias and citrus with acid food.
Follow up one week later with liquid iron.
Fertilize
Fertilize lawns with a high nitrogen fertilizer. Ammonium sulfate is inexpensive and works well. Following package directions will apply one pound of nitrogen per 1000 square feet of lawn. Use weed and feed products only for severe infestations of weeds. Use spot sprays if the infestation is minor. Do not use a broadleaf weed killer that contains dicamba if there are trees in the lawn. Tree roots will absorb dicamba, and leaves will be damaged.
You may need to increase your watering schedule this month. You can discourage fungus diseases in your flower garden if you water the ground and not the foliage of your plants. It is helpful to water the foliage occasionally to wash off accumulated dust and even mites and insects. You can even add a weak solution of liquid soap to a hose end sprayer.
May Flowers
Rhododendrons bloom this month all over California, though they do
best in the northern coastal climates. They can be grown farther south
with some attention to their liking for well drained, moisture
retentive acid soils. Be sure to amend your soil with lots of peat
moss, and give the plant regular water in the summer. If you live
inland, provide protection from the afternoon sun. Snap off the flower
clusters when they fade.
Snowball is another shrub that is
sometimes not grown in the southern part of the state. Like most
deciduous shrubs, it likes some winter chill. In fact, it's a good
choice for gardeners in Zones 7 and 8, but it will grow even on the
south coast. Can you find some in your neighborhood?
Yesterday-Today-and-Tomorrow is the common name of
Brunfelsia, another plant that is at its
peak of bloom in May, though this one will have some bloom through the
summer too. Brunfelsia prefers a location in bright shade.
Other shrubs in bloom this month include Heavenly Bamboo (Nandina), Privet (Ligustrum), Natal Plum (Carissa), and Star Jasmine (Trachelospermum). Colorful perennials include Bellflower (Campanula), Mexican Evening Primrose (Oenothera) and Red Valerian (Centranthus). The Jacaranda is one of our most popular trees, and it is in full bloom now on California's Central Coast.
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© 1997 by Jim Clatfelter
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