First day of summer, and things are almost violently green. We’ve mown 3/4 of the established orchard already, so we’re months ahead of last year on that score.

We’re making progress on building the kids’ play structure

The grapevines, t-posts and corner posts are in place now. I still need to get the diagonal braces and crossties on, and string the wires

The kids’ gardens are fully planted now, with the trellises for cucumbers and melons and yardlong beans. We’ve already harvested lettuces a few times, and their peas are doing well. The tomatoes and peppers are establishing well also.

My schisandra turned out to be willow, but when I replace it, this will be the fence where it will climb. I ran into a wasp nest while installing the posts, so that was exciting. No stings, though.

Kiddo’s leafcutter bee kit arrived and got installed yesterday. It didnt take the little critters long to be out and about and doing their bee thing. They’re super small and very docile.

The herbs have clearly established themselves and are beginning to go insane. I’m going to have to make another tire stack, because I multi-planted some of them and they’re fighting each other for space.

The root veg, beans and rice garden is beginning to fill up. This was my only bed for the last 2 summers, and it needed a break from tomatoes and squash.

The tomatoes, cucmbers and squash are in this bed this year. As you can see, it isnt entirely filled yet. A 12×4 bed takes a LOT of soil and soil isnt cheap, so I’m only halfway done so far. The next half will come this week and I can finish planting it out shortly. This bed has 3 kinds of tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, peppers, zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli, okra, luffa, watermelons and probably a bunch of bush beans.

We’re making progress. It’ll come. It’s amazing how much a few poles/permanent infrastructure adds to the sense of accomplishing thinga. It isnt just a few stunted trees plonked down into an overgrown field anymore. The bones are starting to show.