(or so husband and I have been shouting all weekend as we work)

My apologies for the lateness of this posting – it’s been quite a busy week and weekend at the Walbacz homestead, what with preparing for market (yay!) and doing the big summer plant (double yay!). So, I’m here with an update for all of our benefit regarding The Big Plant.

We’ve nearly tripled what we planted last year, thanks to already having beds dug and tilled, as well as a healthy dose of experience. (We’re already getting a healthy dose of more experience this year, thanks to late-season freezes and heavy rain from tropical storms. Yargh.)

What did we plant, you ask? Here’s the lowdown, row by row, for the back vegetable patch:

Row 1: Broccoli, bee balm, summer squash

Row 2: Eggplant, lima beans, Thai basil, pollinator flowers

Row 3: Okra, daikon, marigolds (oh yes, a whole row of okra this year!)

Row 4: Cherokee Purple tomatoes, Chadwick Cherry tomatoes, Italian basil, parsley, cucumbers

Row 5: Bell peppers, banana peppers, jalapeños, habaneros, borage, Italian basil, dill

Row 6: Bloody Butcher (yep, that’s the variety) corn (and later on, winter squash and pole beans)

Row 7: Cantaloupe, radishes, sunflowers, nasturtium, and some volunteer leeks planted last fall, oops!

Rows 8 and 9 are on vacation, but will hopefully grow us some carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, and greens for the winter.

Other notable plantings include pollinator flowers in the front (sunflower, borage, and wildflowers), and moonflowers and borage in the moon garden. Let’s hope we get something prettier than crabgrass.

We’re pretty excited, and are hoping for a good haul this year for eating, preserving, pickling, and using in baked goods for the business.

But, you ask, where are the pictures?

Well, firstly, here’s some dirt, because that’s what everything looks like right now:

Actually, we’re pretty proud of that dirt, seeing as planting veggies is 90% digging in compost, tilling, and weeding, and 10% actual planting of seeds and seedlings. We got our workout this weekend, for sure.

But sure, have some pictures of our pepper and tomato seedlings, which will hopefully fruit despite being a little leggy:

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You want broccoli? We got broccoli (seedings):

Perennial catnip decided to show its furry face in one of the vegetable beds, so I moved it to the moon garden, where it’s actually doing quite well:

Growing herbs from seed takes forever. But it’s well worth it so far – we’ve got Italian basil, Thai basil (not pictured), oh so much parsley, dill, and cilantro poking up now on the porch:

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Our lettuce is doing beautifully while our arugula recovers from the flip-flopping weather we’ve been having. Our radishes are also nearly ready for harvesting:

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And our perennial mint, oregano, and thyme are thriving, hooray! (Everyone throw the good vibes at our sage plants, not pictured, which aren’t doing as well as we’d like.)

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That’s about it for The Big Plant. As always, I’ll keep you updated on our progress. Until then, happy homesteading! (And, if you’re a local, come on out to market tomorrow and get some tasty baked goods 🙂