May Garden Tips

May is a busy time for gardeners. In most regions, the danger of frost should be past and the weather nice enough to work outside. By this time, the flowering bulbs you planted in the fall should be flowering. Prepare your flower and vegetable gardens for the summer harvest. Timing is important to successful gardening, so know what tasks to perform in May.
Weeding
Start weeding perennial flowerbeds. There may be small seedlings mixed among the weeds that you don't want to pull. Pull what you know are weeds and add a layer of top soil. Do additional weeding when the plants are bigger. Pull the weeds around your early flowering bulbs and spring vegetables.

Divide Plants
Perennials grow every year and may eventually become too big for the space in your garden. Inspect your perennial beds and divide winter iris and late-summer and fall perennials, such as delphinium. Create new flower gardens with the divided plants, while keeping the original plants healthy with expanded room. As beets and lettuce get thicker, thin them out by separating plants from a cluster. Move the small plants to other parts of the garden that aren't densely crowded. Cut off small lettuce plants to eat. New lettuce grows in the place of harvested lettuce.

Mulching
Mulch helps to retain soil moisture and warmth and prevents weed growth. It also makes a garden look better. All the flowerbeds in your garden should receive a few inches of fresh mulch. Mulch new trees and shrubs, as well as the space between rows of our vegetable garden. Add fresh straw among strawberry plants to keep the berries clean and retain moisture in the soil.

Harden Off
Harden off your indoor starter plants, such as tomatoes and peppers. Leave them outdoors in the sun during the day but bring them inside at night. This helps them adapt to outdoor conditions.

Planting
Sow outdoor vegetables in late May or when your area is at least two weeks past frost danger. Plant anything from runner beans to parsnips. Leave plenty of room between each planting to give the plants space to grow. Transplant hardened off indoor starter plants at this time. Allow at least 18 inches between tomato plants that will be staked and about 36 inches between the plants if you use a cage. Plant herbs. Some herbs, such as mint, may quickly take over the garden. Keep them in a large container.

Potatoes
Potatoes are traditionally planted Good Friday weekend, which falls between late March and mid-April. By May, you should be able to see potato shoots through the soil. Use a garden hoe to pull soil up in a mound around each potato plant to guard them against light.

Source: http://www.ehow.com/info_8012524_may-garden-tips.html