For many gardeners, the lunar calendar serves as a guide for plant care, detailing tasks for the garden, vegetable patch, or orchard based on the Moon’s phases and positions. This practice, known as gardening with the Moon, helps determine the best days for planting and caring for your plants. Here’s a look at the best days for gardening in May 2024.

Lunar calendar for May 2022: which days are best for planting and gardening

Understanding the Lunar Influences

Gardening in the vegetable garden - source: spm

The lunar calendar not only highlights favorable days for gardening but also indicates when to refrain from gardening. Avoid planting during:

  • Perigee: When the Moon is closest to Earth. Gardening during this time can lead to etiolated seedlings.
  • Lunar Nodes: Occurs when the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth, potentially causing growth malformations.
  • Apogee: The point when the Moon is farthest from Earth, which can hinder seed growth.
Gardening - source: spm

Best Gardening Days in May 2024

  • May 1: Lunar Node—Do not garden.
  • May 2: Ideal for sowing salsify and black salsify every 20 cm. Remember to thin out plants when they have two leaves.
  • May 3 – May 4: Favorable for sowing root vegetables such as turnips, beets, leeks, radishes, carrots, and endives.
  • May 5: Moon at peak—Do not garden.
  • May 6: Tend to your ornamental garden. Prune spring-flowering shrubs, plant summer bulbs, and take cuttings of flowering succulents and herbaceous perennials.
  • May 7: Plant aromatic herbs like chives, thyme, or mint.
  • May 8: Continue planting perennial and annual aromatic plants, along with red or green cabbages, Brussels sprouts, and head cabbages. Don’t forget to mow the lawn.
  • May 9 – May 10: Excellent for planting tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, peppers, squash, and zucchini. Protect them with cloches and enrich the soil with compost.
  • May 11 – May 14: Time to plant crosnes in pockets of 3, spring garlic, and storage potatoes. Consider planting Jerusalem artichokes, which prefer sunny, rich soil. You can also transplant leeks and celeriac.
  • May 15: Lunar Node—Do not garden.
  • May 16: Total lunar eclipse—Do not garden.
  • May 17: Perigee—Do not garden.
  • May 18: Replant tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, and peppers or squash sown in March or April, ensuring protection with cloches.
  • May 19: Sow legumes like chickpeas, beans, lentils, or broad beans.
  • May 20 – May 21: Continue sowing legumes and also plant carrots, alternating with radish seedlings. Sow beets, kohlrabi, turnips, leeks, or salsify for winter.
  • May 22 – May 23: Sow fast-growing annuals such as nasturtium, oriental poppy, or hollyhock. You can also sow biennials like primroses or forget-me-nots in a nursery.
  • May 24 – May 26: Time to sow cardoon and chard in place, keeping the soil moist. Also, sow various salads like curly lettuce, rocket, or oak leaf. Consider sowing celery under glass and sweet fennel.
  • May 27 – May 28: You can sow beans, wrinkled peas, sweet corn, and squash. Renew your sowing of zucchini and cucumbers.
  • May 29: Lunar Node—Do not garden.
  • May 30 – May 31: Sow black radishes for winter, along with carrots, parsnips, beets, and round turnips.

By following this lunar calendar, you can optimize your gardening efforts throughout May 2024!

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