One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1607 of 2143 - 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.

DIY Recycled Wood Pallet Potting Bench and Tool Holder

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By Mavis Butterfield on May 2, 2013 · 9 Comments

Holy cow do we have some super crafty readers here at One Hundred Dollars a Month or what? This Recycled Wood Pallet Potting Bench is awesome!

Chef Selena from Tacoma, Washington had this to say about her creation:

Hey Mavis!

I built my wood pallet potting bench out of reclaimed pallets from a local hardware store as well as old fence panels from a neighbor. I bartered some of my killer banana bread for his wood. His fence blew down last winter and he has had a stack of fence wood just sitting there so I put the two together and created this kick arse potting bench, along with 2 – 2x4s, 12 metal support brackets and some hardware screws. Sanded, burned to expose the wood grain and sealed.

I also created a wood pallet yard tool holder. All did was remove the two top panels from the pallet, and then I screwed one of the boards into the bottom, sanded and burned to expose the wood grain, and sealed. I don’t have actual “plans” for either project I just kind of put it together as I went.

Ciao, Selena

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.

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.

For more cool garden inspiration check out Junk Beautiful Outdoor EditionBy Sue Whitney.

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.

How to Grow Dill {Start to Finish}

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By Mavis Butterfield on May 2, 2013 · 2 Comments

I planted my dill seeds this morning! If you love canning your own pickles or dilly beans then having fresh dill on hand for the growing season is a must!

Brief description: Dill is an extremely aromatic herb. It is a perennial or annual based on where it is grown. It’s a popular seasoning to add to fish, pickled veggies, and soups.

Where to Plant Dill: Plant dill in raised beds, garden beds or containers {dwarf varieties}.

Dilly Beans Recipe

Planting Seeds: Plant seeds 1-2 weeks before average last frost. Sow seeds at the surface of the dirt, as they need light to germinate. When seedlings are 3″ tall, thin to 1 every 12″.

Growing Tips: Dill prefers nice warm weather, and is super easy to grow. It is extremely drought tolerant, as it has a pretty long tap root. If you are not growing dill in groupings, you may need to provide a bit of support so it doesn’t topple over.

How to Harvest: You can snip off leaves as needed. To harvest dill seed, wait until the plant flowers, then collect the seeds once the blooms have dried out completely and gone to seed. Don’t wait too long though, because if seeds have a chance to disperse, you will have dill ALL OVER your yard.

Are you ready to start your garden but you’re not sure when you should plant your seeds or set out your transplants? Head on over HERE and you’ll be taken to a handy dandy chart that is broken down into what vegetables should be planted {or transplanted} each month in your area.

Anyone can do this. Dirt + Seeds+ Water = Food!

~Mavis

Fun Fact: Humans have been consuming dill for a LONG time. Remnants of dill were found in Swiss Neolithic settlements dating back to 400 BC.

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.

Wood Pallet Gardens – Lettuce, Celery, Strawberries, Bok Choy, Spinach and More

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By Mavis Butterfield on May 2, 2013 · 4 Comments

I thought I would share a few photos and update you how our wood pallet garden is coming along. As you can see the romaine lettuce we started from seed under grow lights is doing great. Lettuce is a great cool weather crop and is perfect to plant in the spring.

The mystery deep red lettuce and bok choy are also growing well. I did notice a few little bite marks in the boy choy though. I’m not sure if it was Lucy the Puggle Dog or a squirrel.

We grew celery in pallets last year and it did great. It looks like this year is off to a good start as well.

If I had to guess this spinach should be ready to start picking in another 2 weeks.

The Endive lettuce is looking great as well. This is my first time growing endive so I’ll have to find out how big the heads get and when I’m suppose to harvest it. Does anyone know?

Our wood pallet strawberries are also doing great. Last year I planted strawberries in a vertical wood pallet. This year I am growing them flat on the ground. I wonder if there will be a difference in the yield because of this. What do you think? I think I’ll get more with the pallet laying on the ground because they’ll be more evenly watered. We’ll see.

This is my second year using wood pallets and although it’s a little different than your traditional garden, it’s still a lot of fun.

Have you ever planted a wood pallet garden before? How did it go?

Mavis wants to know.

Want to learn more about wood pallet gardening and how I put mine together? Click on the pallets above and they will take you to my first pallet garden post of the year. You’ll also learn what to look for when choosing a pallet.

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.

Giveaway – Enter to Win a $50 Gift Card to LL Bean

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By Mavis Butterfield on May 1, 2013 ·

We recently took a trip to the East Coast and one of the places we stopped was Freeport, Maine the home of LL Bean. I LOVE LL Bean so we stopped in and picked up a $50 gift card to giveaway to one lucky One Hundred Dollars a Month reader. Yay!

All you have to do to enter this giveaway is leave a comment below and let us know: Have you ever been to New England? If so, what was your favorite town to visit?

Rules

1 entry per person/ip address. If you cheat, you will totally be disqualified.

One person will win one $50 gift card to LL bean.

This giveaway ends Sunday, May 5th, 2013 @9 pm PST and the winner will be announced in the May 7th, 2013 edition of Mornings with Mavis. You will be notified via email and have 48 hours to claim your prize. If the prize is not claimed within 48 hours it will be forfeited.

Good Luck, I hope you win.

♥ Mavis

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.