Some months slowly unfurl. Other months seems to speed by. May is one of the latter. There is so much to do in the garden: weeding, repotting, transplanting seedlings into the raised beds, weeding, adding compost, weeding. Did I mention weeding? The garden is making progress in the merry, merry month of May! I’m very excited about it. I’m also very busy, hence the nearly three-week delay in a new post. So, today I’m letting the photos do the talking. Here’s what’s been growing, blooming, and quietly May‑king progress around the Wild Light Garden.
My garden reflects my own personality: a little wild and whimsical.
Yogurt containers were repurposed as plant pots. Before repotting I drilled holes in the bottoms for water drainage. It’s also important to label the type of tomato you’ve repotted in order to not lose track. The Hungarian Heart tomato is considered a medium to large tomato. It will need a bit more room between plants.
The tomato seedlings are ready to repot where they can grow a bit stronger and bigger in order to be planted into the raised beds come beginning of June.
My cat found a bunny nest. Don’t worry. No bunnies were harmed. My cat is not a hunter. If the bunny had hopped towards her, she probably would have ran!
Fruits forming on the strawberry plants.
Strawberries are one of my favorite fruits which is why I planted them. This is their third year growing now. I’m happy to see that flowers have bloomed and that fruits are forming.
Keeping the garden safe…from a distance…without doing much.
The bell pepper and basil seedlings have been transplanted into the raised garden bed. Two years ago I installed a sprinkler system. It makes the job (mostly) easier.
When I sit on my side steps and look to my left, this is the site I see. I’ll eventually do something with those stack of bricks. I’m thinking pizza oven? What do you think?
I stepped outside this morning expecting nothing from the garden, only to see what was going on out here. I found mud, chilly temperatures, and some surprises. Everything looked suspiciously productive. Suspicious because I still don’t consider myself a competent gardener. It’s almost like the plants had a meeting without me and decided to get their act together. Good for them. I have no idea how to do that.
So I grabbed my camera, took a slow wander, and let the garden show off a little. So, now I’ll give you all a look as well.
I have never grown fava beans before. They have sprouted with the kind of dramatic flair usually reserved for stage actors and toddlers. The seed has sprouted and is posing like it knows it’s the star of today’s show. Honestly, if seedlings could demand royalties, this one would. I can’t wait to eat them!
A few steps over, the raised beds are waking up. Drip lines are weaving through green growth, tiny leaves are pushing up like they’re late for something, and the greenhouse in the background is pretending that it wasn’t a wind tunnel all winter. At one point, I had to collect a couple of the panels from the neighbors’ yards after a windstorm. The greenhouse and I have been through things.
And then there’s the greenhouse nursery where hope and impatience live side-by-side. I’m happy to say that most of the seedlings are thriving while some are still thinking about it. I don’t judge. We all wake up at our own pace. I happen to need coffee and some of us require snacks.
On a different note, I found one of the gnomes leaning suspiciously close to the heater. I’m not saying he did anything, but the last time he looked that guilty, I ended up with a mysteriously relocated trowel and a row of radishes planted in the shape of a question mark. I’ve moved him to the bird bath where he can reflect on his choices.
It’s the magic part of the garden year, where nothing is perfect but everything is possible. The soil is soft, the air smells like rain, and every corner has something quietly happening and the groundhog is eating your dandelions.
The garden is officially in its hopeful chaos phase.
It all starts with packets and empty trays. Add gloves, labels, and a brand spanking-new spray bottle (Dollar Store gold) and I have made the small, but mighty kit of chaotically-hopeful beginnings. (The spray bottle is the hero. Seeds are needy!)
The soil plugs are filled. The waiting has begun. Germination is just suspense with dirt.
This year’s greenhouse is nursing Sweet Alyssum, Mini Mint, three kinds of peppers: King of the North, Ozark Giant, and Lemon Spice Jalapeño. (Yes, there is a pepper called Lemon Spice Jalapeño and, yes, I am very excited about it.) Of course, I’ve added four types of tomatoes for snacking and slicing.
Outside, the cold-hardy plants are already in the ground and beginning to sprout.
Fava beans are spreading under the teepee trellis, carrots are doing their thing, and the leeks are pushing up in thin, cheerful lines like reaching towards the Sun.
The drip lines are reconnected. The galvanized beds are waking up!
The greenhouse is visible from almost everywhere in the garden, a good reminder of what’s coming. It’s also a good place to go when I need to feel like things are under control. They’re not. But that’s fine. That’s what the gnomes tell me anyway.
Breaking news! I’ve broken ground! Seeds have been sown in the garden. Yay!!!
It’s been raining for two days now. Mother Nature is making sure the garden has water. I’m hoping they’re not flooded.
The onion starts have also been planted. I’m using two beds of onions this season just as I had last season. And just like last year, there are onions that I missed harvesting. Those onions are now sprouting in last season’s beds. I plan on leaving them there for a bit, then pulling them and using them as green onions. Great for soups and salads.
Surprise onion plants aside, sowing seeds takes a lot of timing and patience. It’s so important to know the weather, the growing zone, the last frost date, the vegetables which prefer to germinate in cooler or warmer weather, on and on and on… There’s so much information to know and stress about. Why would anyone want to garden?! For me, it’s fun. I enjoy planning the garden, trying new varieties of plants, saving seeds from one season to plant in the next, and being outside working in the dirt. Sometimes, I even manage to grow something! To be fair the plants do most of the work.
If you’d like to see my garden plan for this year go here. Thanks for stopping by. It mint a lot. See you next thyme.
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My backyard garden consists of raised beds made from 3-foot round, galvanized steel fire pits. I saw them on sale three years ago at Rural King for $49.99 each, so I bought 16 of them. I do not regret this purchase.
Late May 2025
Many moons ago, I had a traditional in-ground garden, but it filled with weeds quickly and I just could not keep up. Curse you, crab grass!!! I decided to tarp the whole area over late summer into early spring in order to suppress the weeds and start over the next season. Then COVID hit. Unlike many people, when we were all sequestered at home, I had less freedom to go outside in the yard since I was the main caretaker of my disabled son. Not being able to continue our “normal” public lives meant his services ended and I took care of him inside the house.
Early June 2025
From inside the kitchen, I could look out at the garden space and dream of beautiful, lush green vegetables instead of the ugly, huge, blue tarp that was spread out collecting falling debris from the maple trees. Various stones and bits of cement block held down that awful thing. It was a true eye-sore. However, two years later when I was finally able to get back to gardening, the tarp had done a wonderful job of killing off the weeds. I was able to position the fire pits into the base of what is now our backyard raised bed garden.
I am very happy that I have mostly chosen to go this route as opposed to the traditional in-ground method. The soil in the raised beds is easier to amend based on what I’m planting in it that season as I can curate the acidity levels or organic fertilizer. I don’t have to be careful where I am walking for fear of accidentally stepping on a plant I want to live. Plus, weeding is much easier! Oh, my goodness, is it much easier. I can grab a stool, sit down, and weed. Since these beds are 3 feet in diameter, I can pretty much reach around the whole thing without hurting my back from bending over or being on my knees.
Also, raised beds do help deter some pests and critters from getting into the plants. I said “some” like, the really lazy ones. Not the squirrels. They are not lazy; however, they are forgetful. The neighbors have a couple of black walnut trees. I keep finding walnut saplings trying to grow in the beds. I pull them out (often with most of the nut hull still attached), throw it towards the squirrel’s home and shake my fist! Yes, I actually do this.
Every season I get to know how to garden a little better. Raised garden beds have been so helpful and have made gardening easier for me. I also think they look beautiful. Although it may seem weird that placing 16 galvanized steel fire pits, filled with dirt, in a backyard could elevate its look.
They’re not just beans; they’re garden-bragging rights!
Since I started a garden, I’ve always added pole beans. They have never failed me. I have grown them up a fence, straight from the ground with make-shift support systems, and in containers, like the time I grew some around an old broomstick handle in a large pot. This last method didn’t work out very well. The bean vines basically just twisted around each other, got very heavy, and weighed down the broomstick handle resulting in a twisted, sprawling mess on the ground. #dnr
I’ve had a raised garden bed system for three years now and each season beans have occupied at least two beds. This year, they are growing in three beds – and for the first time ever – I am growing bush beans, too.
Bush beans don’t climb and don’t need support systems like pole beans do. It’s pretty easy to ascertain that information from their respective names. Kinda like, duh, that’s simple. I like simple.
The type of bush bean I decided to grow this year is a variety called “Red Tail.” I read good things. Other people must’ve read good things, too, because they were on backorder for about a month. Good thing I order my seeds early, like, in February, because what else am I going to do in February in northern Indiana except dream about warmer growing weather whilst perusing seed catalogs and dreaming of bountiful harvests?!
Honestly though, I’m not all that impressed with these beans. Yield has been meh. The flavor is meh. Growing them has been frustrating.
The bugs, however, absolutely LOVE them!!! As you can see from the photo, things are being munchy-munched a bunchy-bunch! Three plants were pulled at the beginning of the season and replaced with direct-sown seeds. I also have to spray the base of the plants with soapy water every-other-day in order to keep the pests away (mainly spider mites and aphids). However, I have been getting beans to harvest. My method has been working and I now have (collectively amongst all of the beds) enough beans to make a side dish for dinner. Yay!
In case you didn’t know, pole beans are climbers! For supports, I reused stalks from the giant sunflowers that grew in this bed last year. In the yard, I allow sunflowers (and other flowers) go to seed, so the local bird population has another option for yummy snackage during the winter. Not every bird can afford to vacay in the tropics during the cold season!
Anyway, I formed a teepee structure, tied the tops together with jute twine, then strung some of that jute horizontally around the supports. You can’t see any of that in this photo, because the pole beans have totally encapsulated the jute string. You’ll just have to believe me.
This old, ahem “dog,” has learned a good trick, though. I learned this trick after the whole broomstick falling over from the weight of the twisting bean vines and sprawling all over the ground fiasco. This trick keeps the vine from falling over and growing back down around itself. Here it is…
When the bean vine gets to the top of the support, just pinch it off. Yup. That’s it. Duh, that’s simple. I like simple.
I hope if you garden that you plant yourself some beans of either variety, bush or pole, in order to enjoy fresh green beans.
I will try bush beans again next year. Perhaps, a different variety and I think I’ll plant them closer together. Right now, though, I’m preferring the pole beans. Some of us just need a pole and a little encouragement, I guess.
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