Native Garden Tasks for MAY in Acadiana: By Dan Weintritt and friends

Created for use by the Louisiana Native Plant Society with the Acadiana Native Plant Project

Made in the style of Dan Gill's Month by Month Gardening in Louisiana, Cool Springs Press,

Copyright 1999, 2006

MAY - To Do

Spring temperatures transition to summer heat throughout this month.

Watering cycles for new transplants can transition from regular light watering

to periodic deep soaking once or twice a week. Deep, infrequent watering will

encourage new roots to push deeper into the soil to find water, now that the

surface will be drying more rapidly.

If new transplants are struggling and wilting constantly, consider adding pine

straw mulch to your beds. This will trap more moisture in the soil, and it also

regulates soil temperature, shading those tender, emergent roots. It has the

added benefit of reducing unwanted invasive weeds.

Containerized plants should be kept evenly moist. those are drying quickly,

or those that will have to make the summer in a pot rather than be planted in

the garden could be bumped up into a larger pot (never more than 2" wider

than its existing pot; bump up incrementally), and/or moved to an area of a few

hours of morning sun and afternoon shade.

Lots of plants are going on sale at this time of year. Consider whether you

will have time to water the garden all summer if you plant now. Often, it is

better to move the plant into a bigger pot (4" into quarts, quarts into gallons,

gallons into 3-gallons, etc.), and moving the plant to a morning-only sun

location for summer, until it can be planted in fall when cooler weather returns.

Blueberries and dewberries are ripening; blackberries are soon to follow.

The birds will eat them before they are ripe enough for our palates; net your

fruit bushes if you wish to save the harvest for yourself, or enjoy watching

them help themselves to the bounty they have provided for you.

Insect pressure on plants is increasing now. Consider that in the native

garden, insects are not pests; they are food for predators. If you are having

severe difficulties with aphids, mealybugs, caterpillars and such, consider

finding adding more diverse plants to attract insect predators, and trees,

shrubs, and grasses to provide habitat to birds who will feed on unwanted

visitors.

Begin deadheading (removing seedpods of spent flowers) spring bloomers

for increased bloom. Coneflowers, Indian Pinks, Stokes' Asters, and others

can put out more blooms if they are deadheaded occasionally. Later in fall, we

will leave seedheads on these plants for hungry migrating birds. Seeds for

sowing are best harvested when just-ripe (husks just starting to dry and

become papery, before they split and start to spread their seed).

While we pruned dormant, deciduous woody trees and shrubs in winter, now

is a great time to start pruning both evergreen plants and spring-flowering

shrubs that need it. This is the time of year, for example, that I shape up the

gigantic dwarf yaupon that is crowding my air conditioner unit. The male plant

has pollinated the other hollies in my yard, and now I can cut it back to give

the HVAC the air circulation it needs to operate efficiently for summer.

Yellow leaves during summer heat can be more difficult to diagnose, but if

trees and shrubs are showing signs of yellowing or curling now, there may be

a nutrient deficiency. An example is chlorosis caused by iron deficiency. This

is a good time to send off a soil test kit to the LSU AgCenter for analysis. You

can decide whether to amend your soil, or use different plants in the future.

Mineral soil amendments are best applied in fall, so getting results going will

give you time to plan. Some plants like blueberries need more acidic soil than

what the average garden can provide, so you may choose to add sulfur rather

than foregoing blueberries. Never amend your soil without a test stating what

and how much amendment is needed, that's pollution.