Vegetable garden calendar - May

Sowing in open ground

May allows direct sowing outdoors for:

• Pumpkins, the Large Yellow of Paris variety for example, sow in May for an estimated harvest in November–December,
• Melons, minimum temperature of 15 °C required at sowing; you may find it useful to cover them with a fleece at the start,

• Courgettes, there are trailing varieties such as the Round Courgette of Nice, which can climb a trellis, and non-trailing varieties, the best known being the courgette Green Black Market Gardener,
• Watermelons,

Add manure or compost to soil beforehand, as these vegetables are greedy for nutrients.

Then:

• Gherkins, Hokus for example,
• Aubergines, such as Black Beauty,
• Chilies,
• Peppers, such as Marconi Rosso Organic,
• Tomatoes. Choose a sunny, rather warm spot in the vegetable patch. My advice: if it is still too cool for the season, shelter them under a tunnel. It will be easier to remove it once milder temperatures return.

• Chou (cabbages),
• Broccoli,
• Beetroot, the Detroit Red variety is appreciated for its yield,
• Parsnips,
• Turnips,
• And winter leeks such as Winter Blue Atlanta Organic.

For these vegetables, sowing in May is essential to ensure a harvest in autumn.

Next come:

• Lettuces, choose red-leaved varieties to give pep to your raw salads such as Red Salad Bowl Organic,
• Lentils,
• Peas,
• Beans, beware of mosaic virus transmitted by aphids; choose resistant varieties such as Argus,
• Carrots,
• Radishes, sow thinly every 15 days to stagger harvest.

And finally, for herbs, you can sow:

• Parsley,
• Thyme,
• Chives,
• Basil.

Always stagger sowing so you can enjoy them through to autumn.

Vegetables to transplant into vegetable garden

In recent months, if you have carried out sowings in heated conditions or under cover, it is time to plant them out in open ground. Ideally, harden them off by putting them outside for a few hours a day, about 10 days before planting out. This applies to:

• Basil, at 2–4 leaf stage,
• Aubergine,
• Melon, in rich, deep soil; allow 1 metre between each plant,
• Tomato,
• Pepper, in full sun,
• Chilli,
• Courgette, incorporate compost at planting out,
• Cucumber,
• Summer leek, once diameter reaches that of a pencil,
• Lettuce, once 4–5 leaf stage reached.

Vegetables to plant in the vegetable patch

There’s plenty to do when it comes to planting. Vegetables to plant in the vegetable garden are:

• Aubergine, such as Barbentane,
• Cucumber,
• Gherkin,
• Courgette, Gold Rush for example, a variety with yellow fruits and exceptional flavour quality,
• White onion,
• Chilli,
• Summer leek, such as Gros Long d’été,
• Pepper,
• Potato,
• Pear-melon,
• Artichoke,
• Asparagus, to obtain white, fleshy asparagus, grow them in a mound of earth, sheltered from light,
• Strawberry plant,
• Tomato, you can place nettle leaves without roots at the base of your plant; these will release nitrogen as they decompose, which will speed up healthy development and help deter diseases. Also start installing final stakes. Note that the final planting date for tomatoes is mid-May.

In May, in the vegetable patch, it's also a good time to…

• Harvest garlic, culinary herbs, asparagus, shallots, broad beans, turnips, peas, rocket, spinach, radishes, green cabbage, white onions…
• Protect strawberry plants from birds, using a bird protection net for example,
• Loosen vegetable garden soil by breaking up large clods with a rake, so as not to disturb earthworms and microbial activity,
• Aerate compost by turning it. Follow all our advice to succeed with your compost in 5 steps,
• Ventilate cold frames and polytunnels and lift cloches to refresh air,
• Prune stone fruit trees to prevent disease and, above all, to optimise fruit production,
• Earthing up potatoes to protect them from light that makes them unfit to eat. Also earth up peas and beans for better rooting and therefore improved wind resistance,
• Divide chives,
• Thin carrots, turnips and beetroots sown under cover the previous month, keeping the strongest plants,
• Hoe to improve penetration of water and fertilisers and, at the same time, remove accumulated weeds,
• Pinch broad beans (sown in autumn), leaving 5 to 7 tiers of pods. By cutting the tip of the stem of each broad bean plant you will remove the aphid’s favourite part, and therefore reduce aphid presence (here, the black aphid). Sap then concentrates in the pods, allowing them to swell faster,
• Mow green manures and leave them in place; their decomposition will feed soil and your vegetables. How is that possible? Find out here.

Sowing, planting and harvest calendar

Please note

This sowing calendar is for guidance only. Bear in mind that sowing, pricking out, planting and harvest times may be earlier or later depending on region and weather. Different varieties of the same vegetable plant can also provide earlier or later harvests.

You can refer to our map to find which climate zone corresponds to your geographical area.

Before sowing or planting your vegetables and aromatic plants, take weather into account and check forecasts for the coming days!