Your Georgia Garden in May

This story on Your Georgia Garden in May first appeared in my local newspaper’s Master Gardener column.

Spring is catching on. The days are warm, the nights are cool and the sun sets after 8 p.m., leaving more time for gardening. 

The average date of last frost in spring for our metro Atlanta area is April 14, and I think we’re safe in saying that we won’t see nighttime temperatures near freezing until fall. With that in mind, let’s jump into a few notes from my spring garden.

Mushrooms

First up: this spring’s wet, cool weather makes for easy planting. The ground is workable and I haven’t had to pull around the hose to water my new plants. Cool, damp weather is also good for mushrooms. You may have seen unusual forms appear overnight in mulch piles or new garden beds. Mushrooms are the fruiting, reproductive part of soil-borne fungi. According to UGA experts, mushrooms are beneficial because they break down dead organic material to provide nutrients for other plants.

In my garden this spring, stinkhorn mushrooms emerged overnight in a fresh mulch bed. They are indeed smelly, but I leave them be to continue their work turning mulch into soil.

It’s helpful to know the kinds of mushrooms that you find in your landscape. There are two deadly mushrooms in Georgia (Destroying Angel and Autumn Skullcap), so you want a positive i.d. before handling any fungi. One way to identify mushrooms and plants is to use Google lens on your smartphone. The app is not 100 percent accurate: always use caution when it comes to mushrooms in the wild.

Tomatoes

A sure sign of spring: gardeners itching to get tomato plants in the ground. There are still gardeners who plant their vegetable beds by Good Friday. If the plants survived the chilly weather in early April, gardeners should see the earliest fruit of the season. Late May is too late to plant tomato seeds for a summer harvest, but you can find plenty of tomato seedlings on garden center shelves, ready for planting in garden beds and containers.

Tips for your 2024 tomato crop:

1. Stake early. Indeterminate tomatoes need staking or caging to control their rambling ways. Tomato cages help keep tomato fruit from touching the ground. Tomato plants grow quickly when the weather turns hot, so it’s best to put a cage on it while planting or soon after.
2. Buy the Bt and spray early and often. Bt is bacillus thuringiensis, an organic treatment that prevents caterpillars like armyworms and tomato hornworms from harming your crops. Spray early in the season, and repeat applications, especially after rain, to protect your plants.
3. Vermicompost is another name for worm castings and it’s a very effective soil amendment in your garden. You can make your own with a DIY worm bin (see this joegardener post and video). You can purchase vermicompost in garden centers, as well. Extension research shows that vermicompost helps seeds germinate more quickly, develop better root systems and produce higher yields. Applying vermicompost to your garden suppresses plant diseases and insect pests.
4. If you’re worried about blossom end rot, try consistently watering your plants while the fruit is forming. Blossom end rot is a soft spot that can form in the base of tomato, pepper and eggplant fruits. Blossom end rot is caused by a lack of calcium uptake in the plant. While most soils have sufficient calcium, the moisture needed to deliver calcium to forming fruit can be inconsistent. Sudden hot spells during busy spring weeks can lead to blossom end rot. Installing drip irrigation helps with consistent watering. Learn more about drip irrigation in this UGA Extension publication.

Plant for Pollinators

The State Botanical Garden in Athens promotes pollinator plants each year. Look for these native plants and plant them in your garden to support pollinator habitat.

2023 Pollinator Plants of the Year.

1. Spring bloomer –  Blue wild indigo
2. Summer bloomer – Wild bergamot
3. Fall bloomer – Aromatic aster
4. Georgia native – Coastal Plant Joe Pye weed

After you plant for pollinators, count the little guys when they come into your garden. The Great Southeast Pollinator Census takes place each August. It’s super-easy to count, and it’s a fun project for young and old.

Tip: To support more pollinators like butterflies in your garden this year, learn to hand-pull weeds instead of reaching for herbicides first.

When Brassicas Bolt

Flowering cabbages and kales offer pretty colors and shapes in cool weather plantings. When weather warms, brassicas send up flower stems. This is called bolting. You may wonder if you should pull the plants up when they bolt. It’s best to leave them be. Pollinators, especially bees, love the early flowers at a time when there’s not much going on in the landscape. In a few weeks, when you’re ready to put out spring annuals, pull the flowering cabbages and compost them.

Flat leaf parsley is another cool weather plant that bolts as days heat up. Keep parsley in your garden for lovely flowers and swallowtail butterflies that nectar on them.

Hanging Baskets

Hanging baskets planted with flowers and ferns are popular in spring. When you hang them on your porch, use a vinyl coated chain to bring the plant to eye level. They’ll be easier to water and will look great.

You can set up drip irrigation for hanging baskets and ferns. Here’s my trick for passively watering them: I keep a large galvanized steel tub around my garden. About once a week, I fill it with water and a small amount of plant fertilizer. I take the hanging baskets down two at a time and let them soak up the water. In rainstorms, I let Mother Nature fill up the tub. (You may have a kiddie pool around the house, that works, too.)

This story was originally published in my local newspaper’s Master Gardener column.

Check Out These Gardening Stories

Tips for Growing Tomatoes

Plan to Plant for Pollinators in Your Garden

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