Gretch Runs

Hi everyone and welcome back to my third Garden Update (check here for the others)! Today we're getting into the fun stuff - harvesting all those yummy veggies and herbs that I worked so hard to plant and keep alive. Things have definitely been growing like crazy lately, and I've been in produce heaven! I'll be sharing some of my favorite ways to use all of the veggies that I'm growing- some are preservation methods, and some are actual recipes. I hope this helps give you some inspiration if you're also growing any of these. I would also love to know how you're using your veggies as well! Before we start, I want to share the products that I'm using. I didn't have anything when I started this, so I was happy to find that Ball offers a starter set for preserving. This has everything you need- 4 half Pint jars, preserving rack, real fruit classic pectin, jar lifter, headspace/bubble remover tool, jar funnel. These are all working great for me and was reaso...

It's already been a month since my first garden update, and there are lots of changes going on! I think most of the hard work is done for now, and we can just wait to start literally reaping what we sowed. Here's how the garden's looking and some updates we've made: Box 1 from back to front - tomatoes, beets, kale, arugula, spinach, calendula flower, radish, dill, Thai basil, cilantro. I swear- it's controlled chaos. Box 2 also from back to front - beans, peas, cucumber, zucchini, peppers, carrots, chives, potatoes, onion. We added a fence all around our plants- leaving plenty of room around to prune and water and allow for expansion. The bottom is chicken wire, buried about 2 feet under ground, and plastic fencing on top! For the gate, Dan built a simple frame, stapled on the chicken wire, and then added hinges and a latch. Our next enhancement was adding a hose stand with a spigot. Before, the hose was just sitting out and I would have to haul it over to the gard...

Happy Friday everyone! I have a fun post to share today- an update on my vegetable garden! We started planning this back in March, and really got working in April. Along the way I've learned a lot but am still making mistakes and adapting as I go. Here's how we started, and what our current status is! Pick out location for garden How it all began... In our backyard, we had three huge trees that fell down two years ago. Once we cleared them, we decided to re-do that section of our yard to make a fire pit (mostly to burn all of the wood that we chopped down) and create our garden! This area is the flattest area of our yard and also gets unobstructed sunlight for most of the day. Shortened the fence line, added a gate, and now we have extra yard! Our first step after figuring out where we wanted to plant was to decide on a layout! We chose to make two 10'x4' raised beds, with a 2' path in between. We marked these off, checked with 811 to make sure we wouldn't hit a...