May 3-9: In the garden, it’s time to ...

Go forth and multiply. But first you have to divide to make my favorite kind of plants — the free ones. Notice if your hostas and daylilies are getting crowded and need to be spread out to access more soil and nutrients, and maybe more sunshine. Sink a shovel down under the clump, first on one side, then the other, and pop up the whole mess. Larger clumps may need loosening from more sides, but you get the idea. Break the clump into four or more pieces, using hands, trowels, forks, shovels, or, for the tough ones, a sharp knife or ax. Reset the little babies after adding compost to the holes. Now you’ve done all the garden math: Add compost, multiply the bounty, divide the crowded plants, and subtract from your leftovers by sharing with neighbors.

Clean out water barrels. Give everything a good scrub to get rid of residual algae. I use a toilet brush since it has a long handle to get down into barrels. I prefer elbow grease, and sand or hay as a scrubber if I can’t find my brush, but if you feel the need to use a little soap, be sure to rinse well; dump out rinse water into the driveway or somewhere you’re trying to kill ivy because soap is seriously alkaline. I’ve noticed that there are already mosquito wigglers in barrels, buckets, and other reservoirs I’ve filled since winter, so get out there and clean out anything else that holds water.

Hold off on the tomatoes. Night temperatures are still keeping soil less than ideal for tomatoes and peppers, so run out and chance one more crop of lettuce and spinach to quell the urge. World Naked Gardening Day is Saturday, so be reminded: If the soil is too cold for your butt, it’s too cold for tomatoes!

Sally McCabe is associate director of community education at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (phsonline.org) and winner of the AHS Great American Gardener Jane L. Taylor award.