Laurie Sends in Pictures of Her Chicken Coop Tractor and Garden Beds

A big THANK YOU to everyone who has sent in their photographs and stories. I hope by sharing other peoples pictures and stories here on One Hundred Dollars a Month we can all have a rock star garden this summer. Keep them coming!

Laurie and her husband are first time gardeners {and chicken owners} from Southern Louisiana.

Here is what she had to say about their chicken coop/tractor, that thry built with an enclosed gravity feeder, and pictures of their garden boxes thry built this year as well.

“Gardening has been a learning experience in patience for me. As I was happily buying up seed packets that were labeled heirloom, non-GMO, the locals were snickering at us in the store. We couldn’t figure out why? See we just moved to Louisiana from California a year ago, and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Come to find out from our local gardening center “hero”, Manny, many of the seed packets I bought are for veggies and fruits that wont really grow too well here, our climate is too wet, and then shifts from cold to immediate HOT and burns the plants. (I think stores should NOT sell you stuff in an area they know it wont grow in!)

I was so excited to try to grow our own food! I had visions of green bean towers, and spinach clusters and huge robust tomato plants and big watermelon vines. I started all of our seedlings in the house late February, and at the end of March I transplanted our happy little seedlings into our “garden soil” filled boxes we spent all weekend building. I made sure the soil we filled with had lots of rabbit poop mixed into it, as I have read that its one of the best compost materials out there. And we waited. And waited…and waited. And still waiting for something to happen.

The plants have gotten a very slight amount bigger, and my strawberry plants bloomed and put on berries. and the bell pepper plants grew tall, bloomed… but nothing? The squash plants now have big yellow blooms on them just starting. but my watermelon…has not grown. My cantaloupe? nothing. My broccoli and cauliflower? No change either. I took samples of the soil in to Manny to test. He said it was not too alkaline nor too acidic. I changed watering time from the evening to the morning.

We brought in our own bee hives. (my husbands latest passion hobby is “beeking” Bee Keeping) We have Queen Victoria in hive one and Queen Latihfa in hive two.

So in any case, as we learn from this endeavor, and try to figure it out, try not to laugh too much at our newbie mistakes 🙂

Our coop came about also after trial and error, predators and floods, and crazy downpours. We have a small flock of 2 RIR, 2 Ameraucana, 2 Orpingtons, and 4 “mutt” chickens someone dumped off in a cage behind my husbands work center. When he brought those poor bedraggled youngsters home, it was apparent our little doll house coop we had would no longer suffice.

So he built a larger, portable one that has an on board gravity feeder that will hold up to 50 lbs of layer crumble at a time. Currently, he is working on making an automatic float type waterer that will feed from a rain catch barrel on a stand, through a hose to inside the run. In any case, its a work in progress LOL.”

Laurie I think you are doing great, especially for a first time gardener. Keep up the great week!

~Mavis

Heather Sends in Her Backyard Garden Photos

If you would like to have your garden, chicken coop or something you’ve made featured on One Hundred Dollars a Month, here’s what I’m looking for:

• Your Garden Pictures and Tips – I’d especially like to see your garden set ups, growing areas, and know if you are starting seeds indoors this year. If so,  show me some picture of how you are going about it.
• Your Chicken and Chicken Related Stories – Coops, Chicks, Hen’s, Roosters, Eggs, you name it. If it clucks, send us some pictures to share with the world.
• Cool Arts & Crafts – Made from your very own hands with detailed {and well photographed} pictures and instructions.
• Your pictures and stories about your pets. The more pictures and details the better.
• Garage Sale, Thrift Store and Dumpster Diving pictures and the stories behind the treasures you found including how much you paid for them.

If I feature your pictures and the stories behind them on One Hundred Dollars a Month, I will send you a $20.00 gift card to the greatest store in the world: Amazon.com.

Go  HERE for the official rules.