May garden tasks: Northeast and Long Island
May is when the Long Island garden goes from 0 to 100. The last frost is behind us (April 7 on average), soil is warming fast, and the list of things to do is genuinely overwhelming if you let it be. The trick is sequencing: get the frost-sensitive crops established first, then attend to perennial.
May is when the Long Island garden goes from 0 to 100. The last frost is behind us (April 7 on average), soil is warming fast, and the list of things to do is genuinely overwhelming if you let it be. The trick is sequencing: get the frost-sensitive crops established first, then attend to perennial care and maintenance.
In May at my house: tomatoes and peppers go in, daffodils finish and their foliage gets ignored for six weeks (correctly), hostas emerge fully, and the paniculata hydrangeas flush out with new growth. The peonies are in bud. The Siberian iris blooms around May 25—30.
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Warm-season vegetable planting (May)
Per Cornell Cooperative Extension, by May 1 in zone 7 (zone 6: May 10; zone 5: May 15—20) transplant or directly sow:
- Tomatoes: transplant 18—24 inches apart (determinate) or 24—36 inches (indeterminate); bury stem deeply; stake or cage at planting
- Peppers: transplant 18—24 inches apart; peppers are cold-sensitive — don't rush them into cold soil
- Squash and cucumbers: direct sow 2—3 seeds per hill, thin to strongest seedling; hills 4 feet apart
- Beans: direct sow 3—4 inches apart; germinate in 7—10 days at 60°F soil
- Basil: the most cold-sensitive common herb; don't transplant until soil is reliably 65°F and night temps are above 50°F — in zone 7, May 10—15; zone 6, May 15—20