What I’m Planting In May (My 4 Favorites)
It’s my birthday month and what’s better than hitting the local nursery to shop for a bunch of plants?! That’s exactly what I did, and I figured that some of you might be interested in what I’m planting and growing in May, so I’m excited to share that with you.
Here’s a list of the 4 things I’m planting in may:
- Raddish
- Red Cabbage
- Dianthus
- Verbena Quartz
Two vegetables and two flowers to usher in the change of season. On a side note, I also planted a satsuma mandarin tree, peppers, and a few kale sprouts.
I may also plant coriander since I found a ton of seeds in the kitchen that were just sitting in a cabinet.
I’ve grown so many different vegetables, some of which I’ve documented on this blog, but what I’ve never grown are raddish and red cabbage.
It felt like a perfect time to experiment and get some experience growing these vegetables.
FYI: I’ve gotten into fermenting vegetables, and I feel like red cabbage and raddish would make a delicious fermented pickle with some carrots.
Here’s a picture of the small plants that I purchased:

Both flowers can be planted in pots, which is ideal because I don’t think these will thrive with all the rain.
But, when it comes to the cabbage and raddish, I’ve come to learn that they need ample soil and space to grow large.
I found a small sport in the backyard that could work for them, so I began to prepare the area for planting.
The soil had a ton of rocks and stones that needed to be removed, which took me a while to do.
Once completely done, I also decided to lightly treat the soil with some compost, which you can see in the picture below.

I dug up 6 holes that are a couple of inches apart and mixed in the fertilizer.
Also, I moistened the soil with some water so that the roots could dig in and spread out easier since this soil was so dry.
I’m anticipating that these cabbages will grow to the size of a deflated basketball, so I spaced them out with that in mind.
They say that it takes red cabbage about 60 to 70 days to reach full growth for harvesting, so I’ll keep a track of them until July or August.
Here’s what they look like in the ground:

I haven’t planted the rest of them yet because, I swear, preparing the soil took so much time and energy that I was too exhausted to continue.
But I’ll update this article when I do, or I’ll publish another with progress pictures on all these plants.
Related articles:
The best plants for new gardeners
I planted a satsuma mandarin tree in a pot