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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.

How to Grow Your Own Food – Raised Garden Beds

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Yesterday when I posted my latest garden photos I forgot to include a picture of what the garden looks like from the back.  In the last two garden beds, you can see carrots popping up.  Originally I was going to companion plant tomatoes with those carrots, but when it came time to plant, I suddenly realized I had no room for my first batch of bush beans.  Eeek!  So this year I ended up planting bush beans {Mayflower} and carrots {dragon} together.  Something new for me. But according to the book The Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Food,the two plants are suppose to grow well together. We’ll see how it goes.

This year I also have tomatoes companion planted with beets, Swiss chard, radishes and spinach.  If there is one thing I love about growing food in raised garden beds, it’s that you can pack a whole bunch of plants into a really small space.  We built our garden boxes 3 summers ago, and they are still going strong.

*Here is a great tutorial on how to build a raised garden bed.

And the peas… I forgot to mention the peas.  Last night I spotted the very first sugar snap pea of the season on the garden trellis.  Hot diggety dog! Pretty soon we will be eating stir fry for dinner at least 3 nights a week.  I can’t wait.

Did you plant peas this year?  What kind? Sugar Snap? Snow? Shelling? Have you harvested any peas yet?  What did you do with them?

Peace Out Girl Scouts, I’m off to do some double coupon shopping.

♥ Mavis

If you would like to learn more about growing organic food and companion planting you should check out the book The Gardener’s A-Z Guide to Growing Organic Foodby Tanya L.K. Denckla.  Amazon currently has it on sale for $16.47. I own the book and I love it!

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How To Grow Your Own Food: Vegetable Garden Tour

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This morning it’s a bit chilly outside.  And I’m glad.  Although I’ve been able to enjoy a weeks worth of sunshine and warm weather, I’m ready for a break.  Just as long as the cooler temperatures don’t harm the vegetables.

I’ve been debating on whether or not to plant the remaining 80+ tomato plants outside over the last few days, but I think I’ll wait.  And it’s hard.  It’s hard to stare out the back window and look at bare garden beds.

But I just can’t chance it.

Here’s a look at what’s growing in the raised garden beds right now:

Red Potatoes.

Crimson Red Radishes {find the seeds HERE}

Broccoli, Celery and Wall Walla Onion starts.  After pulling up the Broccoli Raab I planted a few red onion bulbs.  I should start to see those sprouting in a week or two.

Giant Cabbage in the front of the bed and Brussels Sprouts towards the back.

Sugar Snap Peas climbing up a handmade pea trellis.

The first round of the outdoor spinach looks like it’s ready to be picked.

Heirloom carrots lined up and ready to grow.

The vegetable garden is really starting to look and feel like a mini farm.  I can’t wait to start planting pumpkins, winter squash and beans.  It shouldn’t be too much longer. I hope.

What’s happening in your garden?

Did you plant anything new last week?


If you’d like to learn more about gardening in small spaces, check out Grow Great Grub: Organic Food from Small Spaces By Gayla Trail.  Amazon currently has the book on sale for $13.59.

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How to Grow Your Own Food: Garden Plot Pictures

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Here we are, April 1st, 2012 and the backyard garden is coming along nicely.  I’d say my garden looks pretty typical for this time of year in the Pacific Northwest region.  In the front bed we have Green Arrow Peas, and Easter Egger Radishes growing.

Next up is a box of herbs followed by 2 beds of Broccoli, Broccoli Raab, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage and Celery.

Here is a look at the Sugar Snap Pea Patch.  After the peas are harvested I plan on growing Mayflower Pole Beans in this location.  Followed by a second planting of Sugar Snap Peas in the fall.

Hopefully on June 1st it will be warm enough to plant this years pumpkin patch.

Leaves are just now starting to appear on the raspberry canes.  Hopefully this area will be a sea of green and red in about 120 days.  Last year I was able to freeze several gallons of berries and I plan to do the same this year.

Wahoo!  Spring is finally here!

How is your backyard garden shaping up?
Have you planted anything in the ground yet?


The Vegetable Gardener’s Book of Building Projects

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How to Grow Your Own Food: Planting Radish & Spinach Seeds

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With sunny skies and temps in the mid 50’s, Sunday was a perfect day for planing spring crops.  This time around I planted French Breakfast & Crimson Radish seeds as well as Monstrueux de Viroflay Spinach from Botanical Interests Seed Company.

The French Breakfast Radish is a new one for me.  I’ve seen these yummy radishes at the farmers market before but I have never tried them.  According to the package I should expect to be pulling up radishes in about a month.  I can’t wait.

And the spinach… Well let’s just say the Handsome Husband will be excited when the leafy greens are ready to be harvested.  Ever since he bought The Girl a blender for her birthday he has turned into a smoothie freak.  The HH intends to make spinach smoothies {oh yum} as soon as it’s ready to be harvested.

Is it just me?  Is he weird?  Have you tried a spinach smoothie before?

My new garden assistant: Big Martha.

I still have about 45 days until the tomato plants are ready to go into the garden boxes {Mother’s Day is the best time to plant tomatoes in the Seattle area}. So I went ahead and planted both the radish and spinach seeds in my raised garden boxes.  Just to be on the safe side though, I planted the seeds about 6″ from the edges as well as down the center of the garden beds.  Although the radishes are supposed to be ready to harvest in 28 days, the spinach can vary from 28- 50 days.

By planting the seeds near the edge of the garden boxes and down the center, if the radish and spinach are not ready to harvest by the time the tomatoes need to go into the ground, everything will be fine.  There will still be plenty of room for my tomato starts.

Planning ahead is key when you are dealing with a limited amount of growing space.  There is nothing worse than planting to much of one item and running out of room for the next.  Tomatoes, potatoes and squash are my first priorities this year.  But with a little planning, I think I’ll be able to fit everything in I want to grow.

Ye–Haw!  Now we’re farming!

Did you get a chance to work in the garden last weekend?
What’s on your to-do list?

 

Botanical Interests Heirloom Seeds

 

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