A Common Life
Welcome to A Common Life where Morgan and Taylor offer month-by-month gardening advice to help your garden thrive. We also share our personal journey in seasonal living, aiming to foster a deeper connection with others, nature, and our Creator. Our hope is to encourage and equip others who are on a similar journey and to provide a space for community around these ideals.
A Common Life
Farmer's Market dillemas, Blueberries, Gardening tips, and more for the Month of May!
In thsi episode we talk farmer's markets, blueberries, warmer weather, garden chores, and more. Join Morgan and Taylor for a conversation about what to look forward to in May!
Mentioned in the show:
Black Walnut's Juglone
Echoes from an Old Hollow Tree
Sunbelievables
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Twitter - @Taylor__Myers
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DM us on the Socials or email us at Taylor@acommonlife.co
Music on the podcast was composed by Kevin Dailey. The artist is Garden Friend. The track is the instrumental version of “On a Cloud”
hey everybody, welcome to another episode of a common life podcast. I'm your host, taylor, and I'm here with my beautiful bride morgan hey, everyone and in this episode we're going to be looking ahead to May. It's an awesome month. Yeah, it is A lot of good things going on, and we're going to be talking about what to look forward to.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I love May, excited about May. For us, summer doesn't really start until the end of May. Our kids are still in school, but you know what starts this week? What Do you know? The farmer's market.
Speaker 1:Yeah, at least Green Street, where we are, starts this week. Yeah, farmer's markets really get kicked off around where we are in May.
Speaker 2:And I love a good farmer's market. It's really funny to think about. What kind of person are you at the farmer's market? For me, I love to go when it opens and I love to chat with all the vendors and I love to just hang In my idealistic in my mind. I'm like, yeah, we'll go to the farmer's market and we'll hang out. Maybe we'll get a little food and spend the evening there and our kids will just be frolicking with other kids and Taylor is like get what you need and get out. You're not a linger at the market and I think that's because, well, one. When you get further into the summer it's hot, it is very hot, and you're just kind of like it's time to go. But also, what is it?
Speaker 1:well, yeah, I don't, I don't know, but it does. It kind of stresses me out. I mean, I love going to the farmer's market. Maybe let me say this I love the idea yes, you do I love the idea and I love the the actual purchasing of fresh produce and bringing it home, and also all of the people. And it's just when it's hot. Our market that we go to is on a blacktop, yeah, and it gets really hot and the kids are pulling in so many different directions and and want to buy everything and want to buy everything, and it would just be everything, and it would just be better.
Speaker 1:You're just better at it. I was going to say it'd be better if it was just us, because then we could, but with the kids it is difficult for me.
Speaker 2:So I just let you go, and it's kind of a thing where it's like you don't really know who you're going to run into.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And then how long they're going to talk.
Speaker 1:Right, and it's all surface level conversations and you see people that you feel obligated to talk to. We should be pumping up farmers markets. I feel like I'm cutting them down, but it's just like all right. How long are we gonna have this conversation with somebody I hadn't seen in like years and I just okay, so basically I just put my head down, put my sunglasses on, get my stuff and get out, because I I do enjoy that. I enjoy talking with the farmers.
Speaker 2:You like talking, that's what I was going to say. You like talking with the farmers and the mushroom growers and connecting and like that.
Speaker 1:That's what I enjoy.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Not random John. You know John Heimerschmidt. You know that. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:It's just like Well, here's what we need to do. I think May is the time for me to get you to the market, because it's not too hot and people don't really know that it started yet. So maybe it's just like the hardcore. So May is going to be your month, where I'm going to be taking you to the farmer's market. Okay, okay, I'm in. Okay, okay, I'm in, okay. Another thing in May blueberries.
Speaker 1:I'll be curious to see how blueberries do this year.
Speaker 2:They were really bad last year with our freeze we had last year and we had a pretty hard one this year. I mean, strawberries seem to be doing fine as far as I can tell, but Well, we have friends that have blueberry bushes in Tennessee that are loaded, yeah.
Speaker 1:So I think it's going to be a good year for blueberries. I hope so. Yeah, blueberries.
Speaker 2:Wilder is loving blueberries right now.
Speaker 1:And they're so good for you. So good, they are so good for you. Yeah, it's that time Blueberries and then, after that, blackberries.
Speaker 2:You know, I don't really know when blackberries come in.
Speaker 1:I think late May, June-ish. They're blooming right now.
Speaker 2:Ours look good for the first time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, the ones growing in our backyard. Things don't really grow well back there. I think it's a combination of the pine trees and the black walnut.
Speaker 2:Well, you think that affects the soil Definitely.
Speaker 1:The black walnut does and the pine trees. And I know about the black walnut now because at our gathering, yeah, what's today?
Speaker 2:Sunday. Today's Monday.
Speaker 1:Today's Tuesday. Today's Tuesday yeah, at our gathering Sunday um, laurie Ann was talking about it how black walnuts they put this I think it's called juglans and I forget the technical name of it but they release this compound, chemical compound, into the soil that inhibits growth, some things like it and grow well under it, and other things don't. I'm wondering if that's why things aren't growing. And then also pine trees yeah, when they drop their needles and they do the same thing well, black walnut when they drop and they have the hole around the hole.
Speaker 2:Is it a hole? Hole around the like the green hole, yeah, so when they're green or when they're black, they're really good. Apparently you can make a tincture out of it for your thyroid.
Speaker 1:Yeah, they have lots of good qualities and benefits for you, just not growing things around them. Yeah. We started talking about it because squirrels buried a few black walnuts in our pots around the house and we had quite a few popping up, which is exciting because I'd love to propagate some here, propagate them and plant them at the farm, but they were doing that here yeah, what were you gonna say?
Speaker 2:I was just gonna say I remember in school blueberries. Is it that they do like acidic soil, or?
Speaker 1:they don't like it, they do like.
Speaker 2:They do like acidic soil so maybe, if you're trying to grow blueberries, finding out the pH of your soil would actually be beneficial.
Speaker 1:We've never been able to grow blueberries very well, and it's probably because I'm not amending it right, because I'm just not taking soil samples, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:I need to find out what the old timers did Like late 1800s, early 1900s. How did people grow blueberries back then and what did they do to the soil? To be continued yeah, find out, so you pick blueberries. I mean, we love you people, but we're not telling you where our hot spot is.
Speaker 2:I'm not telling anyone, no we have a hot spot.
Speaker 1:You pick blueberry is off the chisane yeah, they're out there, folks.
Speaker 2:They are out there, google it. Um, that's enough okay, uh, warm weather, I think it's here this morning after the rain and I went outside I thought please don't be freezing, but it's not. Yeah, I'm. This was like our first kind of warmer weather rain where you walk outside it's not cold and it's not.
Speaker 1:Yeah, this was like our first kind of warmer weather rain where you walk outside, it's not cold and it's just raining Some of that smell, you know, from the hot asphalt. We didn't quite get it this morning, but it's a good thing. Warm weather is coming.
Speaker 2:So good, and right now we ate dinner on our patio. Last night it's like the time to eat outside because bugs aren't eating you alive, but it's still warm enough.
Speaker 1:I yeah yeah, it's pretty awesome.
Speaker 2:Okay, what about the garden taylor for me?
Speaker 1:so in the garden? Okay, so for us we have not planted hardly any hot season stuff. Our garden space is pretty small. If it was bigger I would have already planted some things, like in april you can plant your squash and your cucumbers and what else, yeah, I mean. Well, we planted peppers and tomatoes. We have peppers and tomatoes in there in the garden. Have we told people about our?
Speaker 2:cucumbers. I'm going to try. I'm going to do a cucumber on that trellis, but I'm thinking about our basil.
Speaker 1:Oh gosh, yeah, we grew a beautiful basil and the bunnies ate it. Yeah, that's for looking back. Sorry, that's okay, but but, like I was going to say, in the garden, typically May is more about feeding and maintenance, because where we are in North Alabama and even up North of us, you can plant most of your warm season stuff in April.
Speaker 2:You're not harvesting it yet.
Speaker 1:Not warm season things no. But in May we're going to be planting our first planting of like squash and cucumbers and zucchini and, you know, even things like sunflowers and zinnias, things like that. You can be planting all of that in May, may's warm season. Get out there and plant If you've already done that. Typically, may is less about planting and more about feeding and maintenance, making sure weeds aren't May. You want to really stay on top of the weeds.
Speaker 1:They're all going to be wanting to come up the warm season grasses and the warm season annuals. Right now you've got a lot of weeds out there that are spring and they're putting out their seed.
Speaker 1:So, hopefully you stayed on top of the spring weeds but the warm season annuals, which just means they're going to come up and put out seed in like september range, and they're gonna then they're gonna die. They're not perennial, meaning they're not going to come back year after year. They're starting to grow now and the grasses are starting to come now. So stay on top of all of the weeding in may. That should really be a focus for you and that'll help you throughout the summer, because come j July, when it's super hot August, you're not going to want to be weeding out there. So start strong now, stay on top of it. The other thing is we're shifting from cold season to warm season, so pests are starting to emerge, warm season pests and, you know, as the soil warms up, things are going to just come alive, including bugs, summer bugs. So you know, stay vigilant, be looking for eggs, larva and get rid of them just with your hands if possible.
Speaker 1:There's some, you know, organic stuff you can do to treat Our garden is so small. We just we typically don't do that, we just pluck things.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the cabbage, is it cabbage?
Speaker 1:Cabbage Moth. The cabbage moth. I think yeah, why am I? Is that right?
Speaker 2:It doesn't sound right.
Speaker 1:It's that white butterfly looking beautiful. It's really pretty, but they lay eggs and they have these little green things that are just tearing us up. That's for looking back, sorry. It's okay For a continual harvest throughout the summer, throughout May. You can also be planting you should be snap beans, that's the other thing beans like green beans we haven't planted those yet and we should. We probably will this May this year but also corn.
Speaker 1:That's another warm season thing that I didn't think about If you haven't already planted that you can do that in May, and even if you have already planted it in April. Things like beans and corn and squash.
Speaker 1:Yes, do that in mid May if you've already planted it, and then you'll have a successional harvest throughout the summer. If you planted the other thing to keep in mind during May, let's say you went out to the local hardware or you know the local garden store and you bought some shrubs or trees and you planted them in april, then you really got to watch those and keep them well watered throughout the summer because their roots haven't had a chance to get established. A good time to plant shrubs and trees is in the fall, as they're going dormant. I used to say, no, don't do that, but actually it is a good thing to do. And even in the winter, while they're going dormant, I used to say no, don't do that, but actually it is a good thing to do. And even in the winter, while they're dormant, you can plant them, so that they have time for their roots to grow.
Speaker 1:Right In early spring they'll wake up and they'll start spreading out roots and getting established so they'll be more prepared for the summer. But if you just planted in April, water heavily throughout the summer you do not want them to get dried out and also mulch that will really help regulate the water in the soil and keep them from drying out. So mulch and water your shrubs and trees that you planted in April. Perfect Seasonal eating in May. There's a lot of stuff coming on. If you go to the farmer's markets you're going to find a lot of the spring cool season crops like lettuce, broccoli, peas, carrots, beets, cabbage All of those guys are coming on right now. They should be at market. Tomatoes aren't going to be ready until late May at the earliest and if you're growing until late may at the earliest, and if you're, if you're growing you know some farmers. They start in like january, they start growing and they pot up pot up, pot up and by the time they're putting in tomatoes in april, they're already like four feet tall or hydroponic.
Speaker 2:There's a person who always brings. That's so lame, I mean I don't want to like put down hydroponic growers they're awesome, but they're just not the same.
Speaker 1:I mean hydroponic growers they're awesome, but they're just not the same. I mean hydroponic growers. You can get tomatoes anytime, and they just don't have the same flavor.
Speaker 2:There's really something about growing in the soil, oh for sure. Yeah.
Speaker 1:They taste different.
Speaker 2:Definitely, it'd be cool to do a taste test, but it is like when you go to market you're like, ooh tomatoes, Right, but that's kind of the joke, south Alabama.
Speaker 1:I'm wondering when, like slocum maters come in Slocum maters.
Speaker 2:My mom would know. Yeah, she would, and she will be the first one to listen.
Speaker 1:If we had comments on this podcast boy, she would be on them. I don't think we have comments on the podcast, but, mom, I know you're out there texting me when you hear this. When are slocum maters coming in? Because they're going to be in way before they are up here.
Speaker 2:Okay, and the flower moon, that's May.
Speaker 1:Look for the flower moon on Thursday, may 23rd. So the full moons are coming towards the end of the month now and it gets its name because may is the time for flowers. I was looking, I was reading a um, a newsletter, a guy who writes on substack that I follow. I should give him a shout out. I'll do it in the show notes. I don't remember his name right now, but he does a really good job and he was talking.
Speaker 1:He's in new york, upstate New York, and up there the trilliums, the trout lilies, are blooming, and you know that was us in like March, late March and so, and he was just talking about how beautiful and how amazing it is, but for them it's May, and so for a lot of the country, you know, outside of the hot South right, well, I mean, we're in deep South and Alabama, even though we are on the Northern side Uh, now is the time that those flowers are blooming and it's, you know we've kind of passed that now, uh, but we still have a lot blooming and, uh, it is the flower moon. In May it's also the corn planting moon, which is a little less romantic, but, um, that's uh, when a lot of farmers would plant their corn native americans.
Speaker 1:In may, under the full moonlight, we should have some really fun firsts again, and hey. So somebody asked us what we did on the on the newsletter. They, hey, how do you keep up with your firsts? And yeah, I don't want to spoil it, but hopefully we'll have something for you guys. Yeah, an awesome resource for you to keep your calendar of firsts? Yeah, but we should have some fun ones.
Speaker 2:This, this may have you seen a firefly, yet no, I've seen mine. You have at the farm.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh yeah I saw my first firefly but for many folks it will come in may. Around where we are, Like first butterfly caterpillar. I've been looking on our parsley and our fennel. I still haven't seen it. I'm hoping we'll see some in May.
Speaker 2:We've seen our first butterfly.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, we've seen our first butterfly. Have we had a 90-degree day yet?
Speaker 2:No, I think so. We touched the 90s, I think in the middle of the day, maybe last week.
Speaker 1:Okay, middle of the day, maybe last week, okay, and then I would put down the first day warm enough for a swim in the creek. I don't think that's happened yet. No, not for me, right? Well, yours didn't come until like august, if that I also wrote down the first calls of the barred owl I don't know what that sounds like. No, is it supposed to be barn owl? Bard owl, it's got to be barn. I forget where. I saw that somewhere and I wrote it down.
Speaker 2:Well, we need to look up what that sounds like, so we know to be listening for it.
Speaker 1:Yes, and then first blooming of vibrant flowers like the black-eyed Susan or purple cornflowers. That's going to happen. We have some in our yard, so close and they're getting ready.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So that's definitely going to be a May thing, may flowers.
Speaker 2:My favorite flower is is it a variety of the black-eyed Susan? I think it is the sun believable. It's called a sun believable.
Speaker 1:It loves the sun.
Speaker 2:Lo sun believable. It loves the sun, loves the heat.
Speaker 1:We have a nursery here that has them.
Speaker 2:That I get. We get them every year and they just. We have a patio that gets really hot, so if you have a space that gets really hot and most flowers wilt, these will not. They love. They love it and so sun believable.
Speaker 1:I think if you just googled that we'll put it in the show notes, a link to them. But it's like a trademarked variety of some plant that nurseries I'm sure will sell. We get them at one particular nursery. I don't know if you could get them at a Home Depot or Walmart. I don't think so, and then your mom and pop shops might not have them.
Speaker 2:If you're close by. We get them at the greenery here in town Yep over near Hampton Cove. Yeah, Well, is that all. I believe, that is all.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Well, until next time, happy gardening.
Speaker 1:Thank you Thank you.