May is a great time to be in the kitchen garden in Houston. It is so refreshing to be outside, soaking up the sun, and gathering armloads of harvests from the garden this month. We are transitioning from the end of the warm season into the hot season where we are planting hot weather loving plants.
Read more in this blog post all that is possible this month and if you are looking to get started we would love to help.
May is the last Month of the Warm Season in the Houston Garden
While much of the country considers August the time to haul in the most from the garden, May is really our month of plenty.
The key to getting the most from the garden is harvesting regularly. Any time a tomato or pepper begins to blush, it’s time to pick. Any beans, squash and cucumbers should all be harvested at a little smaller size than you would find at the grocery store.
You can still be planting in the garden in May, particularly if you’ve been harvesting a lot of vegetables and leaving open space. The plant possibilities of hot peppers, eggplants, tomatillos, and sweet potatoes this month are a sneak preview of what’s coming in June
If your garden is packed with plants that are healthy and fruiting, you can postpone adding plants until next month and just enjoy the sweet fruit of your labor all month long.
What to plant in May in the Houston Kitchen Garden
Key Tasks for May in the Houston Garden
1) Support all peppers, beans and cucurbit plants by mounding compost at the base of the plant
2) Mulch potatoes and keep well-watered, begin to harvest by the end of the month
3) Prune and fertilize tomatoes once a week
4) Harvest tomatoes, peppers, beans and cucumbers throughout the month
5) Begin to plant summer items if you have space
May Tending Tips for the Houston Garden
Thin: Cucumber, squash/zucchini
Trellis: Tomatoes, Pole Beans, Cucumbers
Prune: Herbs, Tomatoes, Cucumbers
Mulch & Support: Potatoes, Beans, Peppers and Cucumbers
Fertilize: Phosphorous for Fruit
Defend: Brassicas, Cucurbits, Tomatoes
Learn More about A Houston Garden Consult
Plant Lots of Organic Herbs in the Houston Garden in May
It’s no secret that we love growing herbs in our clients’ gardens in Houston. And this is because we can grow year round.
This month is a great time to add new herbs to the Houston garden including:
Rosemary
Sage
Thyme
Oregano
Basil
We’re counting down the days till all our Houston herbs are grown locally in the garden-once you taste the homegrown variety, you’ll want to skip out on the grocery ones for good!
Add 2 to 3 Inches of Compost to Your Raised Beds Before Planting for May in Houston
Don’t forget: you’ve got to feed your food!
Even though your garden may appear to be healthy, all the plants that have been growing in your garden over the winter have been absorbing the nutrients and minerals from your soil. So, in order to continue to have a healthy garden in the coming season, you need to replenish those vitamins and minerals.
You can do this simply by adding 2-3 inches of fresh compost to your garden before you plant for the spring.
With our Rooted Garden maintenance system, this is a key part of our routine. After we pull spent plants from the previous season, we clear the soil area of debris and add enough compost to the top of the garden to ensure that new plants have at least 2-3 inches of fresh compost to feed and support their growth as soon as they’re planted.
Set up matters most in the garden so don’t neglect this important step of planting for the coming season.
Add Flowers to Your Houston Garden in May
Flowers are an essential part of the vegetable garden during every season. Adding flowers to your vegetable garden ensures that there’s diversity in your garden, that there’s food for bees and butterflies and also decreases the likelihood of pest pressure on your crops.
You can plant both annual and perennial flowers around your gardens. I recommend planting annual flowers like zinnias, marigolds and cosmos inside the raised bed garden and planting perennial flowers like echinaceae, yarrow and rudbeckia outside your raised bed garden.
Most of the annual flowers should be planted by seed in the garden and will flower and grow for you for months-adding beauty, color and health to the garden, and ensuring the bees and butterflies know how to find your cucumbers!
Plant Zinnias by Seed in Your Houston Garden in May
Tips on Planting Zinnias in the Houston Garden
Zinnias are incredibly easy to start from seed and will grow under so many conditions, including pretty extreme neglect.
Zinnias are annuals, which means they complete their life cycle in your garden in a matter of months. If you plant zinnias by seed in the spring, they will flower all summer long and begin focusing on seed production as the weather threatens to get cold in the fall.
Zinnias have been bred to produce many different flower sizes and shapes, including singles, semi-doubles, and double blooms, and grow to different heights, some soaring as high as four to five feet tall. With colors ranging from tangerine to dusty apricot, lemon to lilac, and magenta to blush, you're sure to find a color and size of zinnia that works for your garden space.
One of my favorite varieties of zinnias is called the Northern Lights Blend from Botanical Interests. These grow 24 to 36 inches tall and produce long-lasting blooms in a visual feast of colors, including shades of pink, purple, and burgundy.
Another favorite is the California Giants, also from Botanical Interests. This heirloom variety grows up to four feet tall (thus the name) and produces blooms in bold rainbow colors.
A third favorite is just called Cut and Come Again Zinnia Seeds from Botanical Interests. This heirloom variety only grows about one and a half to two feet tall, but is excellent at attracting butterflies in search of summer nectar.
Grow Sunflowers from Seed in Your Houston Garden in May
Sunflowers are a fun compliment to the vegetable garden. Be sure to grow only dwarf varieties in your raised bed garden and grow larger and taller varieties outside of your raised bed. Sunflowers will attract pollinators and also serve as a trap crop for some pests.
Sunflowers grow best and quickly from seed. So, start early and plant seeds 1’ apart at a shallow depth for best results.
Get Help from Rooted Garden to Design & Install Your Raised Bed Vegetable Garden this Month
Success in the Houston garden is based on three factors: set up, timing and consistency.
Over the years, we’ve found that even if our clients have not had a lot of experience gardening or only experienced disappointment thus far, a great set up can help ensure their success. Once we set you up with a raised bed, great soil, strong trellises, locally grown plants and a consistent watering system, you’re at least 90% of the way to the harvest.
Once set up is complete, it’s the timing and consistency that matters.
Through this article and our support from the RG team, we’ll ensure that you get the timing right each month-only planting what grows best and helping guide you each month so you never wonder if it’s the right time (or not) for the plants you want to grow.
Finally, consistency matters too. All it takes is a few minutes a day or one hour a week to maintain a garden that’s set up right and planted at the right time. We can help ensure consistent care for your garden with our maintenance service and also with our regular check ins and garden coaching sessions.
The first step to enjoying the garden is setting it up the right way. And we’d love to help.
This month, we’re booking consults to ensure you have a spring garden in Houston. We’d love to meet you in your own space and create a garden you love as soon as possible.
Learn more about our garden consults and click below to schedule yours this month.
Here’s to enjoying every day in May in your own Houston garden.
Thanks for being part of the Kitchen Garden Revival.
