May tends to be a busy month in the garden. The chance of frost dwindles, and spring showers should give way to slightly drier weather.
Once your lawn has dried out a bit, it will be a good time to do any repairing to bare spots.
Loosen the soil a bit, spread some seed, and cover with some mulch, hay, or grass clippings. Keep it moist to ensure that the new seeds will germinate. Pull weeds now while they are young and easy to remove.
A Weed-and-Feed fertilizer application will help prevent weeds through the summer if you get it in before the weeds go to seed. As your lawn fills in, you should raise the height of your mower blades.
This will allow your lawn to grow fuller and tall enough to choke out many of the weeds that will grow.
In the vegetable garden, you should be wary of the weather.
While the temperatures are getting warmer, the lingering chance of a freak frost can set you back. You can start planting many of your vegetables, but be aware of the weather and if needed, protect your new plants.
Warmer season crops like tomatoes, pumpkins, peppers and melons should wait until later in the month, as they will not do well if the temperature dips. Plant beans and peas weekly or biweekly to maintain a regular harvest.
Newly planted strawberries should have the buds pinched off to promote vegetative growth, and ones that were planted in past years should be starting to develop strawberries soon.
Plan to protect them or the birds will be the ones snacking. Tulle can be a great, inexpensive option that both protects from birds and keeps them from getting snagged.
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Squirrels are a very common nuisance animal and, as cute as they appear, can cause a number of different conflicts with homeowners. Grey squirrels and tree squirrels will steal fruit from fruit trees and food from bird feeders, while ground squirrels will eat all of your flowers, damage vegetables and dig up lawns looking for food.
Worse yet, squirrels have a unique desire to live inside of buildings where they can create fire hazards from chewing up wiring and bringing in nesting items.
There are two ways to deal with squirrels, besides killing them (check your local laws for restrictions on that). You can repel them from your yard by making your garden undesirable as a food source, or trapping and removing them. NOTE: we do not recommend poison to control squirrels.
(Assuming that is legal in your immediate area - check your laws.) It's too easy to accidently poison someone's pet.
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