Author: Erin
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How to Grow Cantaloupe on a Trellis in Kentucky – What Worked in my Zone 7 Garden
Growing cantaloupe on a trellis in Kentucky is one of the best vertical gardening decisions I’ve made in my Zone 7 garden — and I almost didn’t try it. If you’re dealing with limited space, humid summers, or just tired of playing garden yoga trying to find melons hiding under sprawling vines, this method is…
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How I Grow Cucumbers on DIY Cattle Panel Trellis in Kentucky, 2 ways
I grew my first cucumbers in a Kentucky raised bed—and honestly? I had no idea what I was doing. That cattle panel trellis I threw together? Pure gold for our humid Kentucky summers. The second trellis I built in the Kentucky clay soil. And those “Homemade Pickles” cucumbers from Botanical Interests? They actually flourished there…
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Tomato Trials Part 5: Conquering the Cattle Panel Trellis
I’ll admit it—I felt silly waiting so long to set up my cattle panel trellis. Post-surgery, I doubted I could tackle it alone, especially pounding T-posts into the ground. As an overthinking “good idea fairy,” I scoured the internet for inspiration from gardeners who’d already nailed this. The Backstory: From Kitchen Garden to Raised Bed…
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Vertical Growing Cherokee Purple and Roma Tomatoes
I’ll admit it: my Cherokee Purple and Roma tomatoes had me sweating after Kentucky’s summer solstice on June 20, 2025 heat prediction. Plus the week before brought tons of heavy rain to Kentucky. These beauties in my raised in-ground garden bed were sprawling like nobody’s business, and I worried about sunscald and that pesky “green…
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Summer Solstice 2025: A Gardener’s Guide to the Longest Day
Hey there, Bloom and Peck family! The summer solstice is here, lighting up our gardens today, Friday, June 20, 2025, at 9:42 p.m. Central Time. It’s the longest, sunniest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, and for us gardeners and homesteaders in Zone 7, it’s a celebration of growth, abundance, and the magic…
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Easy Fluffy Sourdough Discard Pancakes (From Scratch)
It’s Sunday morning and my grandson wants pancakes, he’s not used to the homemade life yet. So I whip up these easy sourdough discard pancakes that he gets to help with. He loves to sift the flour and “crack the eggs”. That’s really his favorite part. This recipe makes a big batch so if you…
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A Favorite Sourdough discard low iodine banana muffins (dairy Free)
These sourdough discard low iodine banana muffins are soft, naturally sweet, and made specifically for a low-iodine diet — using sourdough discard, lard instead of butter, and non-iodized salt throughout. This low iodine banana muffin recipe was adapted from Little Spoon Farm. It was adapted FROM a standard recipe INTO a low-iodine version, with notes…
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Thyme & Tomatoes: My Kentucky Container Garden Setup
Discover how to companion plant tomatoes with lemon thyme in containers. Boost tomato flavor, deter pests naturally, and garden successfully in small spaces.
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How I Build a Cattle Panel Tomato Trellis — 2 Ways (Raised Bed or In-Ground)
If your tomatoes flop over every summer, a cattle panel trellis fixes it for good. It’s a budget arch of livestock fencing that carries a fully loaded tomato vine without sagging the way cages, string, or concrete mesh do — and it looks beautiful doing it. I built mine as an arch over a raised…
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Raspberry Container Gardening Success: A Food Forest Journey
Raspberry Revival Part 2: Tula Magic Raspberries Bloom with Patience Some links in this post are affiliate links (but not all). This means if you click and buy, I might earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. Your support helps keep my garden dreams growing—thank you from the bottom of my heart!…