Mid May Garden To-Do List
May in Middle Tennessee is full of possibility—and pollen, sorry to all of our friends with allergies. 🤧 Our cool-season crops are giving their best harvests thanks to all this recent cool weather, but many are on the verge of bolting. Meanwhile the warm-season seedlings are itching to get in the ground. It’s a time of transition, but you don’t need to do everything at once. Prioritize what’s ready right now, keep an eye on weather swings, and don’t let your lettuce turn bitter on the vine (er, stem).
🥬 Harvest Time: Lettuce, Cilantro & Their Bolt-y Friends
Lettuce & Greens:
Harvest outer leaves daily, or pull entire plants if they’re getting crowded or starting to elongate (a sign of bolting).
Have a salad spinner at the ready—these greens won’t wait! Feel free to nibble on a leaf out in the garden and decide if the taste is worth the wash.
Other Spring Favorites:
If cilantro isn’t already bolting, it will be soon. Snip generously or let it flower and collect coriander seeds.
Arugula, spinach, and chard may still be going strong—harvest now before the heat wins.
Sugar snap peas are ramping up production. Harvest frequently to encourage more pods.
Radishes and green onions are ready soon. Kale, too!
Beets and turnips can be harvested at golf ball size depending on the variety.
Herbs like parsley, thyme, oregano, and mint are lush—snip bunches for drying or daily use.
✂ Thinning
Thinning root crops: Beets, turnips, and carrots need their final spacing—about 2–3 inches apart. Snip at the soil line to avoid disturbing roots.
Greens: If you densely planted salad greens, thin by harvesting whole plants or outer leaves. Give remaining plants room to grow.
Large greens: If kale, mustards, and collard plants are growing large and providing more than you can use, consider removing entire plants to make room for peppers and squash. Kale can often thrive through the entire season, but you might not want to eat it all year.
🌱 Warm-Season Planting: Game On
Nights in the 50s mean it’s safe to transplant your warm-season crops. But you don’t need to do it all at once:
Plant These Now:
Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant
Cucumbers, squash, zucchini, melons
Okra, beans, sweet potatoes
Basil, lemon basil, Thai basil, lemongrass, ginger, turmeric, stevia
Flowers: Zinnia, cosmos, marigolds, celosia, nasturtium, gomphrena, sunflowers
Still Waiting on Space?
Let spring crops finish before you pull them. You can tuck summer transplants into open corners now and fill in more gaps as spring crops wrap up.
💧 Water & Weather Watch
Water deeply in the morning, especially for new transplants and seedlings.
Pause irrigation systems for a few days after a solid rain. No one likes a soggy garden.
Secure your stakes and trellises before a windstorm makes it urgent. Or tie up and support your plants if they’ve already been knocked over by hail and strong winds. No one else? Just me?
🐛 Pest Patrol: The Battle Continues
Aphids – Spray with water or insecticidal soap. Leave ladybugs to do their thing—don’t spray those plants!
Cabbage worms – These green caterpillars will decimate brassicas. Hand-pick or use BT spray every 7–10 days.
Striped (or Spotted) Cucumber Beetles look like skinny yellow ladybugs. Pick them off and drown them in soapy water.
Slugs – Still loving the damp. Use iron phosphate bait (reapply after rain) or try hand-picking early in the morning.
👀 Regularly check the undersides of leaves and tender new growth. Early detection makes a huge difference!
🌸 Ongoing Garden Chores
Weed Weekly – Stay ahead with shallow hoeing or hand-pulling after rain.
Fertilize – Add compost this month. The garden soil has already been supporting plants for two months now and is hungry for a snack. We like to use BioTone Starter fertilizer when planting, and also side-dress heavy feeders like onions and brassicas.
Update Your Garden Journal – Note what you planted, where, and when. Future You will thank you.
🧠 Garden Mindset: Let the Shift Unfold
We’re officially in “both/and” season—both harvesting and planting, both cleaning up and starting fresh. The garden doesn’t flip a switch; it transforms gradually. Stay flexible, stay curious, and enjoy the overlap. A few minutes spent harvesting greens or planting zinnias now will pay off in beauty and bounty later.
