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One Hundred Dollars a Month

I am your typical housewife living in high maintenance suburbia. I have a handsome husband, 2 kids and a flock of pet chickens. I try and feed my family with $100 a month. With the help of coupons, gardening and bartering I am able to squeeze the most out of our grocery budget and still manage to have a little fun along the way.

Mavis Garden Blog – Potato Tower Harvest #1

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Remember the potato towers I built earlier this spring?  Well last night I decided to knock one over to see what was inside. Now this potato tower was a little different than the other potato towers I have growing, somehow I got distracted, and never got around to adding more dirt to this particular potato tower.  So I knew the harvest was going to be really small.

But even thought the harvest was small, the soil turned out pretty darn amazing.

Potato Tower Harvest #1   8 pounds 8 ounces

Whoop T Do right?  Well, I agree.  But I’m also not worried one bit.  I have a feeling the other towers {the ones I added additional dirt to} will have produced a heck of a lot more potaoes by the time we harvest them at the end of the month.

Only time will tell.

So, did you try growing your potatoes in towers this year?  In a trash can?  In a ditch?  Have you harvested your potatoes yet?  How did your crop do?

Mavis wants to know!

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How to Grow Your Own Food: Garden Plot Pictures 7/3/2012

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Each  month I like to photograph the entire garden. Not only is it fun to document, but it’s simply amazing to be to see how much things can change in just a short amount of time.

The mini flower pallet garden I put together a few months ago has almost totally filled out and is now starting to cover the potting bench.  The disobedient peas have decided not to cover the trellis I built, and the potatoes I planted in an old whiskey barrel are over flowing.

The bean teepees and hubbard squash are rockin’…

The Green Arrow English peas are about 1 month behind schedule, but hopefully we’ll be able to harvest them soon because I just planted a bunch of squash seeds and they’re going to need a home here shortly.

Now that the tomato problem has been fixed, there is plenty of room to move about the greenhouse.

This is the beginning of the heirloom pumpkin patch.  I planted seeds about a month ago and hopefully by the end of September, this place will be covered with green vines and a rainbow of pumpkins.  We planted orange, white, green and tan ones.  The Girl is planing on having a harvest party this fall and is super excited about this space.

The raspberry patch is a total dud this year.  The canes are short, and weak, and I have zero expectations of a large harvest from them this year.  Hopefully the raspberry canes will be more abundant next year.

However, the strawberries that were planted on the right, are coming along nicely.

And lastly, the potato towers and rhubarb and nice and green.  I’m taking that as a sign everything is going well.

So how’s is growing in your neck of the woods? 

Is your garden growing like mad?  Are things growing like you hoped they would?

♥ Mavis

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Even if you have never been a farmer or a gardener, this book covers everything you need to know to get started: buying and saving seeds, starting seedlings, establishing raised beds, soil fertility practices, composting, dealing with pest and disease problems, crop rotation, farm planning, and much more.

*Amazon prices can change at anytime

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Gardening in Maine : Al and Anita’s Garden

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Reader Anita sent me a few photos of her GORGEOUS garden in Maine.  Well, technically, I think it’s her husband Al who does most of the work, but hey, behind every man is a good woman… who waters the plants while he is away.  Right?

If you ask me, it appears Al and Anita are a couple of rock stars when it comes to gardening.  They have several pallet gardens, raised beds, oodles of tomatoes growing in containers, a potato tower and a bean teepee to boot!  And, if you look closely, you’ll notice two black composters in the background too.

Hey Al, Anita tells me you have a pretty awesome chicken coop as well.  Care to send in a few pictures of you and your creation?  I bet everyone would LOVE to see what you’ve been up to.

*If you have a garden, and want to be featured here on onehundreddollarsamonth.com, then send in your photos to onehundredollarsamonth {at} gmail.com, along with a brief description of where you are and what you are growing and I will try and get them posted.

If you are new to gardening or just want to read how others are farming, check out the book Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre by Brett L Markham.  Amazon currently has it on sale for $10.99 and the book is pretty darn awesome if you ask me.

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

Mavis’ Rainy Day Garden Tour

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It may be raining outside, but that didn’t stop me from taking a few snapshots of the garden.  Check out the potato tower!  The leaves are totally popping out.

The French Breakfast radishes look like they are ready to harvest.

The chives should bloom any day now.

The first crop of beets need to be thinned.

The cabbage I started from seed is coming along nicely.

And the rainbow Swiss chard is taking shape in the raised garden beds.

And the Sugar Snap Peas… Lets not forget about those.  It appears they are finally beginning to find their way up the handmade pea trellis.

Wowza!  Does it get any better than this?

How is YOUR garden coming along on this beautiful spring day?

Amazon currently has Grow Cook Eat: A Food Lover’s Guide to Vegetable Gardening, in stock.  Cook, Grow Eat includes 50 recipes, plus harvesting and storage tips and has been rated 5 stars by fellow Amazon shoppers.

 

 

This post may contain affiliate links. These affiliate links help support this site. For more information, please see my disclosure policy. Thank you for supporting One Hundred Dollars a Month.

Mavis Butterfield Etsy