As we say goodbye to April and its surprisingly lovely weather, we head into May with its warming temperatures and promises of ripe tomatoes and sunny blooms. While most of the planting and sowing is over, we are into the summer months of weeding, watering and for vegetable gardeners, harvesting. We cannot forecast this month's weather. We could get loads of rain or go weeks without. For this week, at least, much of the city will get some rain. That requires some serious work in our yards before the weeds take over.

Here is our checklist for this month and a few chores. It's best to stay ahead of some of the pests and problems that plague our gardens once the temperatures rise. But let's start we the fun stuff first.

Ornamental Planting:
While the optimum time for getting shrubs and trees into our yards has passed, May still offers potentially clement weather for digging in a few specimens. And some of the big box nurseries have already started to mark down items such as azaleas, gardenias, star jasmine and other foundation plants. That means fruit trees and roses will soon follow as the stores make way for new inventory. Because of May's warmer temperatures, it's important to water them in well and keep an eye on them. If we are getting torrential downpours, however, it's wise to let Mother Nature do the work.
There are also new bedding plants being delivered each week. On a recent trip to Plants for All Seasons, I noticed that many of the bedding plants on offer were partial shade annuals such as angelonias, impatiens and coleus. Sun-loving and heat-tolerant flowers such as vinca and salvia were available in a wide variety of color. Petunias should be arriving en masse soon along with zinnias and calibrachoas.

As for seeds, sunflowers, zinnias and cosmos can still be sown for color in the summer months.

Vegetable Planting:
Most vegetable gardeners have already gotten their plots into high gear, having planted furiously in March and April. For those who are a little behind, there are still a few vegetable transplants that can go in the ground now. Eggplant, tomatillo, peppers, cucumber and okra can be transplanted and seeds of black-eyed peas and other Southern peas can be sown. Sweet potato slips can still go in the ground and there's a little time left to sow melon seeds. Good-sized tomato plants in containers might still be available. Cherry types like Sungold, Sweet Million and Yellow Pear will produce more readily than slicers when the temperatures go up.
Most herbs are good to go all year long except for cool weather herbs like cilantro and parsley. Basil loves our summers and there are so many varieties to experiment with culinarily. Thai basil grows like a fiend and Genovese basil is a traditional Italian pesto type. Holy basil has a cult-like following for its "medicinal" uses. I have some growing in my garden and it is quite pungent compared to other varieties.

Harvesting:
This is the really fun part, as long as bugs, squirrels, birds and raccoons have not already reaped what you sowed. We vegetable gardeners obsess from bloom to veg then have to compete with the freeloaders that also enjoy the fruits of our labor. Tomatoes can be harvested after they get a little color on them and then ripened inside the house. Some experts say to ripen them in a paper bag, others say to leave them on a counter to ripen on their own. I find it's best to make sure they aren't touching because one bad tomato may not spoil the whole bunch, girl, but it will leak its juice on the rest of them. 
Picking beans regularly will help produce a second flush of flowers for another light harvest. The same goes for squash and cucumbers. They are at their best picked young before they grow to arm's length. Peppers require some research on the varieties. Some hot peppers are fine picked green like jalapeno or serrano while others are ready when they turn red, like cayenne. Sweet peppers come in so many colors that gardeners can have orange, yellow, red and even chocolate hues to brighten up a salad or dish.

Early-ripening peach trees will have edible fruit in a couple of weeks and a few early varieties of thornless blackberries like Arapaho and Natchez will soon ripen. Some gardeners use netting to keep out birds and squirrels but it's not always effective. Squirrels perform astonishing acrobatics to get what they want.

Weeding:
My garden beds looked quite lovely in April with foxgloves coming into their own along with the still blooming dianthus and just-starting salvia. And among those pretty blossoms, I could see the tiny seedlings of purple bindweed. It's often said one person's weed is another person's flower. Do not be fooled by the pretty morning glory blooms of this invasive vine. We call it "The Houston Strangler".

We are grateful for the April showers that helped to reduce our water usage. Unfortunately, the weeds are thankful as well. May is the month to get down and dirty and pull up those invaders before they run rampant like sailors on leave. The brutality of last summer's heat and drought is still fresh in my mind and I let my garden get overgrown during July, August and much of September. It was hard work getting it back in order. This month, I am determined to get some serious weeding done and put down mulch to prepare for whatever this summer brings. Hopefully not a hurricane, but that's the risk we Houston gardeners take.

Bugs, Bugs, Bugs:
As flowers bloom and vegetables ripen, insects from all over come to feast. I had to burn nearly a hundred rose blooms last month to combat the Western Flower Thrips that turned the precious pink blooms to a depressing brown. This month, my nemesis is the stinkbug and the orange and black babies it produces. Actually they may be leaf-footed bugs, according to photos online. I am not an entomologist, however. On Reddit, one commenter identified them as "Assholes. They're assholes."  As I watch them begin their destruction on my mulberry tree, I have to agree. They have to be destroyed before they make their way to my peaches and tomatoes.

If you've ever bitten into a garden tomato and it tasted rancid, more than likely a stinkbug or one of its ilk had previously stuck its "piercing mouth parts" into the fruit and released enzymes that help it digest the juices. Yum.
Gardening is not for wimps, that's for sure. Between confrontations with non-venomous snakes and a frog landing on my hand while weeding, I've experienced some hair-raising moments. But, I've gone gangster in the garden. I will cut you, tomato hornworm.

Besides physically squishing bugs or dropping them in a container of alcohol (rubbing, not bourbon), there are other organic options. I use NEEM oil for most of my pests with average success. Coffee grounds may deter some insects while cayenne pepper spray can repel a few bugs and other pests. My mom will tell you nothing deters deer.

There are plenty of chemical options and even as an organic gardener, I might be tempted if I were guaranteed 100 percent that something would get rid of the thrips destroying my rose blooms. However, many chemicals are not effective enough, in my opinion, to chance the potential side effects. The only chemical insecticide I use is ant killer. I have tried boiling water but a recent spreading mound that was nearly half the length of our driveway made me run to the hardware store. Fire ants are dangerous and I still have the red bites a month later to prove it.

Grow Free Plants:
It's thrilling to watch a seed grow into a beautiful flower or a plant dripping with tomatoes. And plant collecting can be addictive as well as expensive. I planted a flat of zinnias last month using leftover four-inch nursery pots. I now have 17 plants (one keeled over) for the price of a half-packet of seeds and some potting soil. At the garden center, the same flat would be $32.50. I like supporting my local nurseries but I also like saving money.

Recently, a piece of my angel wing begonia "Frosty" had broken off. I put it in a small glass of water and it put out roots within a week or so. Now, it's planted in a pot and doing well. It encouraged me to start doing more cuttings. I pinched off suckers from my tomato plants, stuck them in some water and now have three more Yellow Pear seedlings.
Soft cuttings are the easiest to do like rosemary and lavender. Some gardeners use hormone powder to help cuttings along but I go the cheap route to root.

Three years ago, I lost a rose but it had a sucker growing out of the graft. I stuck the sucker in a pot and it rooted. Now I have a Dr. Huey rose in my front flower bed. Dr. Huey is a hardy climbing rose that is often used as rootstock for other roses to make them more vigorous. It only blooms once a year but it's in a spot where it can't  bother anything else.

Take Stock:
We had a hard freeze this past January that killed back some plants but helped the roses bloom better than ever. Though I thought I had lost a few, I am still discovering plants emerging from their roots. My bougainvillea was kaput, or so I thought. Multiple trips to the garden center had me considering whether or not I wanted to drop 25 bucks on some rather pitiful looking specimens or splurge on a $50 beauty. I found a small Barbara Karst bougainvillea for $7 and took it home to replace the dead one. Then I realized the "dead" one had put out new growth from the ground. Most websites say it's very rare for bougainvillea to survive a freeze so I am excited. Now I have two.

By paying attention and having a little patience, I have discovered the return of Mexican heather, blue plumbago, blue balloon flower and salvia. My Thanksgiving mums are reblooming in their pots and my flower bed chrysanthemums are blooming again as well.

And of course, the lantana is back in full force after freezing to the ground. It's all for you, butterflies.

Reap the Benefits:
Battling weeds and varmints can be exhausting but the hard work pays off when you harvest a pint of cherry tomatoes from the garden or pick a few sunflowers for a rustic bouquet. Few things are more satisfying than produce shopping from your own yard, even if it's just a sprig of rosemary or some green beans to throw in a stir-fry.

While some may think gardening is a hobby for older folks to while away their golden years, many younger people are getting into growing food and flowers as well. Our soon-to-be-married, twenty-something A/C technician was quite interested in my vegetable garden because he had just planted tomatoes. He was also hoping to plant a fig tree because he really likes figs. Plant what you love.
And there's much more to it than just having fresh vegetables or a pretty view. I am currently reading a book titled Losing Eden by Lucy Jones. It goes into great detail about not only the psychological and emotional benefits that nature can provide but also the potential for physical healing as well. It may sound hippy-dippy to some but there is science behind it. And, as a gardener, I trust science.


So, go heal thyself in the garden. Before the heat and humidity return.