APRIL SHOWERS bring May flowers … along with beets, carrots, asparagus, and radishes, depending on when you planted them. In my own garden beds, I keep watching for signs of perennial life: oregano and chives sprouting, rhubarb stalks forming, strawberry runners spreading. With herb seeds in hand and vegetables on order since mid-March, I (im)patiently await Mother’s Day—my official green flag date to begin planting. I could start earlier, but I learned the hard way that it’s unwise to rush, unpredictable Indiana weather and all.
What I anticipate most this year are tomatoes, six different kinds with names like Blush Tiger, Cherokee Purple, and Pink Bumblebee. While the ones I grow will never be as good as my dad’s tomatoes—he cultivated his own starts indoors over the winter—homegrown varieties picked right off the vine are always far superior to store-bought. My taste for fresh produce direct from the backyard is deeply rooted since childhood, when I would head out the back door with a little green carton, intending to fill it with cherry tomatoes, only to go back inside empty-handed. I picked the tomatoes, all right, but none of them made it into the container. Oddly enough, the same thing happened when I ventured out to the raspberry bushes.
If gardening isn’t your thing, or you don’t have a dad with a green thumb, you can still enjoy handpicking the best local berries, peas, bell peppers, peaches, apples, and more starting this month. Our lifestyle editor Christina Vercelletto rounded up a month-by-month guide to u-pick farms ready to share their bounties this season. And since this is May in the Circle City, we follow that with a profile of driver Pato O’Ward, who might just be the top pick to capture the checkered flag at the 2025 Indianapolis 500.
