In this video, I explain why I’m planting no veggies in May right now, and neither should you in most situations! YouTube videos telling you what to grow every month have become oversaturated, and they are pressuring gardeners to make poor decisions. May is often a bad month for seed starting, and in this video, I explain why you should transition away from planning and planting and focus your efforts elsewhere.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
0:00 May Is A Bad Month For Seed Starting
2:58 What About Direct Sowing Crops?
3:49 4 Crops To Plant In May
5:00 Succession Planting In May
6:44 My Top May Gardening Tips
10:22 Adventures With Dale
If you have any questions about how to grow vegetable garden or growing fruit trees, want to know about the things I grow in my raised bed vegetable garden and edible landscaping food forest, are looking for more gardening tips and tricks and garden hacks, have questions about vegetable gardening and organic gardening in general, or want to share some DIY and “how to” garden tips and gardening hacks of your own, please ask in the Comments below!
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#gardening #garden #gardeningtips #vegetablegarden #may
what’s growing on gardeners it’s Tuesday April 30th and things are starting to heat up here on the Southeastern coast of North Carolina and everyone is in the mood to plant out their Garden but I’m here to give you the real truth may is one of the worst months for starting seed in the entire year in fact I plant almost nothing in May and on today’s video I’m going to explain to you all exactly why so you don’t make any tragic mistakes if you’re new to the Channel Please Subscribe and hit the Bell to receive new video notifications and check out our Amazon store and red chop links in the video description for everything I use in my garden and awesome custom designed apparel and other gear your support is greatly appreciated 2 years ago I began a monthly Series where at the start of each new month I shared a list of veggies you can plant right now out in your garden I started this series specifically in the fall months because gardening interest drops off a cliff most people don’t Garden in the fall and winter so I wanted to make as many people aware as possible that hey you can still plant things right now in most climates and have a little garden growing on in the winter especially if you build yourself little hoop house covers which really helps keep those winter Blues Away since I started that Series 2 years ago these types of videos have exploded on YouTube now everybody makes them sometimes right down to my original thumbnail on a rotating monthly basis now I actually think this is really good in fall and winter to help maintain awareness and keep the interest in gardening alive and come up with with new ideas on what can grow and survive the winter the more information out there the better but this time of year I think pushing out that type of content with long lists of stuff that can be grown right now just because it’s a new month and that’s what we do on YouTube now actually does more harm than good in fact I think this time of year is the worst time to Rattle off lists of what to plant let me explain first off everybody already knows that may is gardening season all you have to do is pull into a Lowe’s or Home Depot parking lot the lines in the garden center are out the door so there’s no need to raise awareness we already know that stuff grows this time of year but the bigger issue is that may is just not a good month for seed starting in general it’s a great time of the year for transplanting but transplants take around 6 weeks to go out into your garden from the day you sew that seed any seed you sew into transplant trays in May won’t go out into your garden until probably July trying to transplant things at Absolute Peak summer heat is usually not a good idea may is mainly a shoulder month for seed starting where it is too late to start transplants for spring but it’s too early to start transplants for fall so if you want to get your garden going and you haven’t started seeds yet you pretty much have to go out and buy transplants from a nursery at this point to get them into the ground as soon as possible before it gets too hot provided you’re beyond your last frost date of course but what about Direct sewing well most of the crops that we direct sew are cool crops like root vegetables aliums and peas unless you live at a high latitude or at a higher elevation with a very short growing season it’s getting to be too late to sew a lot of these Frost tolerant crops most of those things should have been sewn when the ground becomes workable which for most people generally speaking is marchish give orake now there are workarounds you can sew these types of things under protection like under shade cloth or maybe you can find a shady spot in your yard to plant these things or maybe you live in a place with very mild Summers where my statements don’t apply but again I’m speaking broadly for the conditions most people deal with out in the open there are always workarounds and exceptions if you’re willing to change your Garden’s unique situation now you may be thinking come on there’s nothing I can plant in May well no of course not there are things but they tend to be more obscure and less popular most climates can for example plant corn and string beans directly into your garden right now and in terms of starting transplants one of the few things that you can start right now are transplants of winter squash things like pumpkins gourds Butternut Acorn and other types of squash that store well over the winter but these items are a little less common for backyard gardeners particularly corn because it’s really hard to grow in small plots but if you are looking for something to sew right now they are some good options now one of the few things that I legitimately do plant out into my garden in May are sweet potato slips which is what you see right here however sweet potato slips take about 2 months to get going I started these back in March and they are finally about at the place where I can plant them out into my garden if you haven’t started your sweet potato slips you pretty much have to order them online at this point I’ll place a link down in the video description that is a video that will teach you everything you need to know about growing sweet potato slips from sweet potatoes another exception would be anything you succession plant or plant out in waves in your garden so for example cucumber plants have a very short lifespan and it makes very little sense to try and keep old cucumber Vines alive all summer instead plant cucumbers out in waves with new plants planted every 6 to 8 weeks so you always have young productive healthy vines in your garden zucchini are another example instead of trying to keep your tired old zucchini plants alive from Vine bores squash bugs and disease plant them out in waves and let the old plants be sacrificial distraction crops to divert those pests away from the young healthy plants flowers are another thing you may need to plant out in waves I always want blooming sunflowers in my yard but to do this I need staggered planting so there are always plants that are within the blooming phase this is true for most flowering plants they tend to flower when young so if you want to always always have flowers you always need to have fresh plants or in my example Peter Rabbit can come into your yard at night and eat all of your sunflower seedlings except for three so in my case I guess I will be starting some sunflowers in May and finally I love growing fall Tomatoes but it is still a little too early for me to start seeds I won’t start my seeds until June because I can’t transplant them until the worst heat of the summer passes if you have a shorter growing season than I do and you like growing a ated fall tomato crop it’s possible that may is the best time to start your seeds but honestly if your growing season length is that much shorter than mine chances are you can just keep your indeterminate tomatoes alive until Frost and you don’t need a dedicated fall crop of tomatoes so if you’re not starting seeds what should you actually be doing in May well you should largely be focusing on getting your garden off on the right foot everything should be planted out for the most part and now you need to focus on keeping the plants well fertilized well well irrigated well mulched and check on them daily to ensure that there are no issues with pests and disease this could involve preventative fungicide sprays it could involve occasional treatment and use of natural or Organic pesticides if the situation warrants it I will place a link down in the video description to my Pest and Disease Control playlist full of videos that can help you manage common problems in your garden as safely and naturally as possible you should largely be taking a break from seed starting except for the less common exceptions that I laid out in this video if the situation is appropriate for you that being said the biggest tip I can give you this time of year is to Simply take a walk around your garden every single morning and every single evening take a quick stroll before you leave for work and when you get home from work it’s one of the best things that you can do because it will help you observe any issues that seem out of place look for the first signs of disease or holes in your plants from insects before it becomes a problem look to see if any plants have blown over from the wind look for animal tracks just spend 2 to 3 minutes every morning and every evening and inspect your garden and that can help you spot problems before they get out of control so take it from me as one of The Originators or at least early adopters of the what can I plant right now this month in my garden YouTube format I feel like things are starting to get a little bit out of hand and we’re all planting crazy instead of wearing about what we’re actually managing in our garden so I just wanted to reel things back in a little bit and take a step back because I ultimately want everybody to be as successful as a gardener as possible but a man has to know their limitations as Clint Eastwood once said right so if I’m constantly in the stage of planning and planting and I’m never actually taking the time to take care of the plants that I’ve already planted I’m going to not have Great Harvest and I’m going to get beaten down and defeated because I’m in over my head so I just want everybody to take a step back assess their situation and find out am I already up to my neck and things do I already have too much to do if that is you now is the time of year to stop planting and focus on what you actually have and work on ideal management of the crop so you’re successful and that can later spur you on and motivate you to do more now that being said if you have your garden planted and you love it and you have more capacity and more time than by all means please plant more look up as many videos as to what you can plant right now as possible I just want to put things in perspective and like I said reel it back in a little bit and at this time of year once we have our core things that we have the time to manage planted out now is the time that we actually want to take care of them and not so much Start sewing seeds unless like I said we have the capacity to do more so everybody I sure hope you found this video helpful if you did please make sure to hit that like button subscribe to the channel and please ring that notification Bell so you’re notified when I release more videos like these if you’re curious about any of the products that I use in real life in my garden they are all Linked In My Amazon storefront down in the video description so expand the video description click on the Amazon link and you’ll see everything I use in real life and while you’re down there please check out my spreadsh shop for custom merch if you want to support the channel thank you all so much for watching and I hope to see all of you again on the next video all right let’s get our breakfast together for Dale okay and there is no Dale in sight there he is there he is he’s waiting wait wait hold on Dale you are outside in the morning so we got to get all that all that Dirt Off Your paw I know it’s not fair but your paws are all soaking wet and muddy oh boy oh it’s hard for him to wait wait we got to get your back paw buddy okay there’s the back paw let’s get this paw okay buddy all right oh somebody’s excited are you ready and three two one go Dale and he made it Dale got to his breakfast I know it’s just boring dry food today with some freeze dried liver we ran out of Dale’s fresh food but that’s okay we’re going grocery shopping tomorrow we’ll get Dale a nice big package of meat okay
28 Comments
If you enjoyed this video, please "Like" and share it to help increase its reach! Thanks for watching 😀TIMESTAMPS here:
0:00 May Is A Bad Month For Seed Starting
2:58 What About Direct Sowing Crops?
3:49 4 Crops To Plant In May
5:00 Succession Planting In May
6:44 My Top May Gardening Tips
10:22 Adventures With Dale
Good news!
I live in North Idaho , we are still getting snow blowing through , temps still
In the low 30s at night lot of cold wind !
I am working on getting my garden boxes ready for planting . I am ready to plant just as soon as it stops freezing here . Love your videos !
I appreciate spring because its perfect weather for many things. We get wet springs in the east and I like planting then cause I don't need to water much. Summer is a hard time to establish growth. The weather has been unpredictable. Also, I chuck seeds everywhere and they grow when its their time.
My dad would not plant till after Mother’s Day. I’m in Louisiana and I put out some tomatoes 🍅 and peppers.🫑
Cow peas….. just sayin'.
So appropiate and a different look at May. Thanks. I agree with u . Im at 1150m in the pyrinees and the whole year can be tricky but May is crucial. Thanks again
Where I live(southern Oregon partially in the mountains) some plants i have to either gamble and try to direct sow in May if I haven't tried to start seeds indoors earlier/I missed the opportunity to do so or end up just buying the plants at a nursery. My area the last frost is usually around April 18th but this year we've had several days afterwards that have gotten very close to frost. Tomorrow is actually supposed to be a low of 34° and part of me now regrets trying to direct sow. I think these couple days of really low temps spread out between April 20th and tomorrow might be the reason I haven't had any of my seedlings pop up in the 14 days since I've planted them. I only had enough room this year to start my pepper seeds indoors which for Southern Oregon is a requirement because you can't start them outdoors and have enough time for them to finish. So I had to start my cucumbers and melons outside which I usually don't do and it's looking like this year direct sow wasnt possible.
I direct sow beans, corn, and melons in early May. None of these like getting chilled. I see farmers in my area still planting their corn and bean crops in May. They know their stuff.
I'm zone 6 and May is a big planting month….both seeds and plants. Because of our shorter season it is necessary.
I’m in your same growing zone in Northeast SC and I appreciate this advice! I’ve followed all your advice this year and my garden is looking the best it ever has. Thank you for these videos!
I watch allot of videos to attain different perspectives. You have this down professionally in my opinion. I really really enjoy your content. I'll tell you why…many people start their video un prepared. They go off on long tangents that have nothing to do with the content. You are informed and you stay on topic. I find myself watching every video until the very end. You have a talent my friend. I have subscribed and I respect you in your endeavor here. I want to give some other positive feed back here. I live in New York and often you will comment about living in the Carolina's and relate the content if you are living in the north. I find so many content developers speak about their region with no reference, I quickly stop watching them. Keep up the reference advice to other regions, it helps and keeps my watching.
I'm in the UK and the temperature is only rising this week.
Yes you may be better off buying the transplants. Its been too cold and wet to do anything beforehand
Just subbed dude, we are in Sneads and im a realtor so im in willy all the time. My neighbor and i have some nice setups here. Nice to follow someone here in our region. Reach out if you want to grab a beer and talk gardening we have a small group here doing it
I live in Florida and it is one hell of a lot hotter here than it is in North Carolina. Surprise we can plant okra, sweet potatoes, and peas.
Really driving the cotroversy comments with this one
Great video! Your right. I transplant in early May, but not really start seeds. I do direct sow my beans now but that’s it
How do you sun-protect taller plants, like tomato, as the hoops come out to about 4ft high as the pvc pipes are 10ft tall.
Thanks. Very timely advice. In Northwest Arkansas, what to plant, and when, is always a struggle because the weather is so uncooperative. This year has been horrible because of late frosts, early heat spells and now, torrential rains. I've got lots of starts that I'm just waiting for the right time to plant. Until that time comes I'm going to concentrate on caring for what's already in the ground and just stop stressing.
I hope my garden in year 2024 and followed your tip is good and I put all my plants of tomatoes.
I was just coming to this conclusion here in 7a…and I'm going to do the same thing as far as pest control as you said in the neem video. I used neem all last year and was thinking about a better/different way to handle it right as your video came out. Thank you for all of the great videos!
I’m starting a new round of seeds indoors now. Put out my tomatoes this week with tomato accelerator frost covers. Temperatures are on that borderline of freezing some nights so protection is essential 🙂 and right now we are being hit with high winds that are brutal to anything that isn’t a cool season crop.
This would be the dead season if you only grow YANKEE crops. This is the perfect season for Okra, Corn, Field Pea, and Sweet Potato starts (its a bit too late for squash if your climate is hot [EXCEPT chayote]).
I am about to plant a bunch of things. The way I see it is, you live and you learn. So the learning begins.
Just starting get warm here in the UK man
Agree in waves comments. In WNY Memorial weekend is when most people here buy and plant out. Last frost this year 4/27. I put out a few tomatoes peppers and basil in a cold frame.
We are in washington state. Now in my it's cold and raining spurticlly. I started in March and we had 30-50 degrees. I had to bring our plants in at night to prevent death.
In Ontario we start planting after Victoria Day weekend which is May 24th.