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April 27, 2018 · Leave a Comment

What I’m Planting In May

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Garden· Gardening Tips· Our Adventures

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The beginning of the month still gives us cooler nights, but it’s getting warm enough that I can start planting the majority of my seeds throughout the month.  The last frost in my area is usually around the 15th.  This year, the beginning of April was quite cold, but the end of April is leaving us with what seems like a heat wave with nighttime temperatures staying in the 40s.

In the past, May has left us with nights dipping into the lower 30s, and squalls of snow that occur as late as the 25th.  June is when things start to get hot, and the amount of growth that happens in our garden is phenomenal, so I need to get everything in now.  Here’s a list of my garden chores and what we’re planting in May.

What To Plant In May

Garden Chores:

To start off, we need to finish moving around our raised beds.  The remainder of the month’s chores can be monotonous, but are very important in the long run.  This includes weeding the garden beds, topping off any compacted beds with soil and compost, creating a watering & fertilizing schedule as checking for pests as needed.

After I get everything planted, I need to be vigilant about slugs.  They’re the number one pest in my garden, and I’m very picky about what I’ll put out for them.  Sometimes I will leave out orange peels to trap them, other times I leave cups of stale beer.  But since I started using Bug-Geta*, I’ve noticed a reduction in the amount of plants that are mutilated by slugs.  I absolutely refuse to use Diatomaceous Earth* unless it’s a dire bug emergency simply because I like keeping helpful bugs in our garden, and diatomaceous Earth will kill all bugs.

What To Plant In May

I’m also adding planting in 2 week successions to my chores list because with our busy month wrapping up school, soccer, and concerts, if I don’t count it as a chore, it won’t get done!

Additionally, I need to transplant strawberry runners this month.  I didn’t get to it in the fall, when it’s really the best time to thin them, because we were still figuring out where we wanted to put our raspberry bushes, and didn’t have the permanent beds built for the strawberries yet.

 

What I’m Starting Indoors:

May finally brings us some warmer weather, so I don’t have the need to start things indoors this month.  If I were feeling spunky between soccer games, I may start some zucchini and yellow squash.  While it’s not necessary for these plants to get started, it does help ensure that my seeds don’t get stolen by the squirrels and chipmunks as soon as I plant them.

To help keep the squirrels and chipmunks out of my garden, I use Repel-All*.  I really am picky about what I’ll use because I like to keep as close to an organic garden as I can, and this contains ingredients like garlic, clove oil and putrescent whole egg solids.  As I’m sure you can imagine, it’s got an absolutely lovely smell.  NOT!  But it was better than the “colorful puff balls of poison” the lady at our local garden center was trying to sell me.  I have young kids, I’ll use the smelly stuff over the poison any day.

What To Plant In May

 

What I’m Direct Sowing:

This is basically everything that we’re growing this year.  May is our month for massive planting.  Everything I plan on growing throughout the year gets planted in May.  This year we are trying out some seeds from Seeds Now*, and I’m thoroughly impressed.  Their germination rates have been remarkable indoors; I can’t wait to see how they do outside.

This year I’ll also be planting in 2 week increments for continual harvests.  It’ll give us fresh produce throughout the summer, and will also make sure I don’t have an entire harvest of lettuce to eat before it goes bad.

I’m planing bush beans, lettuce, spinach, carrots, beets and chard for continual crops this year.  Whatever is extra among spinach and chard I’ll blanch and freeze to add to some recipes , like Greens Beans & Rice, or Sausage Potato Soup, over the winter.

I’ll also direct sow some sunflowers in the raised beds I’m transplanting the tomatoes into.  Unlike the others, the sunflowers won’t be in 2 week planting increments.

 

What I’m Transplanting:

The end of this month means I should have all our seedlings and transplants out in the garden.  This includes tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, and any pumpkins, melons, and winter squash I started indoors.

What To Plant In May

I’ll also be able to get the rest of my herb garden planted.  We have chives, lavender, lemon balm, and bee balm that keep coming back year after year.  Herbs like basil, oregano, thyme, mint, & sage I plant every year.  Some will come back year after year, but they don’t seem to be as hearty when they regrow the next year as when I just start them from a new transplant.

 

What I’m Harvesting:

Asparagus!  It’s a continual harvest crop, so it’ll keep producing as the season goes on.

Towards the end of the month I may have kale and spinach that could be harvested as well.  Not an insane amount, but enough to eat fresh or add to a few salads.

What To Plant In May

 

Looking for tips on what to plant in other months?

  • What To Plant In April
  • What To Plant In March

What are you planting in May?  What are some of your garden chores for the month?  I’d love to hear about it in the comments below!

What To Plant In May

What To Plant In May

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makingcentsmatter

This is what school looks like when it's a hybrid This is what school looks like when it's a hybrid model, and your house does not have unlimited space. I was standing in our kitchen when I took this picture, the kids behind me making lunch.
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Our district is carefully monitoring our local infection rates, and we are currently in a hybrid form. That means they divided the district into two groups; half are in school on Monday and Tuesday, the other half on Thursday and Friday. They are offering an all remote option, but Verizon for some reason supplies our house with speeds so slow that it would shock a tortoise. Remote was a no-go.
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This set-up has taken some trial and error to get to where we currently are. Because no matter how prepared you are and how much you've planned, once you're in the weeds, actually doing it, there is no telling how your best-laid plans will work.
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Our home is a 1800sqft one-story, open living area, 4 bedroom, 1 bathroom, ranch-style house in a very rural area. It has no home offices. No guest bedrooms. Yes, that is a desk in the corner of our dining room. 🤣
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Each kid gets their own color bin for their school work. This includes school-issued Chromebooks and other standard items they need to get work done - headphones, pencils, and so on. When we are done for the day, we clean up everything, place them neatly in these bins, and place them in cubbies (on my current left) at night while the Chromebooks charge.
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I do NOT bother to clean up at lunchtime. It would take us more time to clean up and reset everything than it takes us to eat lunch. So we only pack it all up for the day and call it done.
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During the day, I sit between my younger two and field any questions they may have, troubleshoot technical issues we all have, and be the overall bouncer when things get off-topic. My high schooler will occasionally emerge from his bedroom, which opens to the kitchen. So he is close by when he has questions.
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Please remember that with all things in life, you need to work with what's available to you. And there is no shame in that. Don't ever feel like you're not doing good enough because it's not picture perfect. Work with what you have available to you, and you'll do amazing things.
School is in session, the garden is slowing, and I School is in session, the garden is slowing, and I’ve finally realized I haven’t shared our payoff numbers for July or August. Yeah……
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Please keep in mind, we are paid monthly on the 15th, but we don’t go by a “monthly” budget. So I have to go back and look at these numbers based off their due dates in the calendar. Because our pay falls in the middle of the month, I can’t tell you what portion of our income went to debt. It’s going to vary paycheck to paycheck anyways because our priorities vary with each check. Nothing is ever the same month to month, and pay to pay.
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That said, inJuly we paid off $2,694.43.
In August we paid off $1,673.40.
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The difference here is that our priorities shifted between the two months.
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During August, we were doing more prep for whatever school would look like this year, and we had some savings goals make their way to the top of the list as well.
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Of those goals, in August we made progress!
EF Reimbursement: $146 / $1,200
Checking Buffer Reimbursement: $227 / $500
Vet Sinking Fund: $40 / $200
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Remember this is a journey, not a race. There is no point wearing yourself ragged and still making no progress. Make progress where you can, and celebrate it. Even if it’s $5.
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It’s progress, and that’s what matters!
While I wait for the canner to finish the last rou While I wait for the canner to finish the last round... I rearranged our recipe binder. It's only taken me 8 or so years. 🤣😶😭
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I miss the days when zucchini was my problem. Now it's tomatoes. I can only find so many ways to use up spaghetti sauce! So the next 50lbs or so will be chili base and unseasoned sauce.
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On top of this school is starting with a hybrid in building & online system. And I'm seriously slacking on some things I need to do. I'm not good at juggling multiple things and the balls are falling. But I keep reminding myself... be patient. This too shall pass. This is only a phase. So I pick and choose what's the most important, focus on that and go from there.
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So if you feel overwhelmed with your current phase, remember, this too shall pass. It's okay to rearrange priorities. It's okay to take a breather.
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This too shall pass.
If you didn't start finding interesting ways to ge If you didn't start finding interesting ways to get rid of the squash, can you say you even planted any?
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Good news, I'm almost caught up! Bad news, the garden has more.
Super busy here... but I wanted to share that wins Super busy here... but I wanted to share that wins can come in super small packages. I thought I'd spend $380 to clean the band instruments in this house. I ended up spending $234. So the remaining $146 can go to reimbursing what I pulled from our EF.
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No matter the win, celebrate it!
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What are some wins you have had lately?
In total we have 15lbs green beans, 10lbs cucumber In total we have 15lbs green beans, 10lbs cucumbers, 5lbs blueberries, and countless zucchini and squash with more on the way! My weekend is spoken for... and this isn't all of it. 😳
Rather than looking back through all our non-month Rather than looking back through all our non-monthly bills for the year and try to remember what I paid and when I paid it, I make a note of how much it was on our bill pay tracker. That way I can easily tally it up at the end of the year, set our sinking funds next year accordingly, and not spend more time than is necessary on this... because kids and all.⁣
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Anyone else do this? Do you have a different method of tracking these expenses?⁣
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This particular printable is in my Etsy shop here: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MakingCentsMatter⁣
It's also part of my budgeting workbook, also in my Etsy shop.⁣
Good news though... there's a very similar free version in my resource library as well. Links are in my profile.⁣
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Probably an unpopular opinion here... but these tw Probably an unpopular opinion here... but these two things are NOT the same to me.⁣
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𝗟𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 paycheck to paycheck means that you're using all of your money for expenses with none left over for savings. This usually happens when you're not aware of where you are spending your money, and how much you are spending. For us, this happened in the form of those tiny expenses that can add up to even larger expenses, and then an unexpected bill comes and you have nothing left to cover it.⁣
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𝗕𝘂𝗱𝗴𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 paycheck to paycheck means that you are giving every single cent you earn a job to do that aligns with your priorities - like in sinking funds, savings, expenses, debt payments, etc - until the next paycheck. You have the money on hand to cover some unexpected expenses, and you are mindful of your spending so that you're not leaking money through small purchases.⁣
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June's paycheck was a doozy! I haven't looked forw June's paycheck was a doozy! I haven't looked forward to a paycheck since we first made the switch to monthly pays. It was so bad we've got a new order to things.⁣
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Good news is that if our state keeps closing things down, we should hammer this out in no time!⁣
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To see the full breakdown of how bad June's paycheck was, check out the June 15th Budget Review on our YouTube channel here https://youtu.be/gXoEo33hIYQ. Link is also in the bio.⁣
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