One Hundred Dollars a Month - Page 1673 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.

Mavis Butterfield | Backyard Garden Plot Pictures – Week 10 of 52

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By Mavis Butterfield on March 3, 2013 · 21 Comments

Week 10 of 52 – Mavis’ Backyard Garden Plot

Grab a pair of sunglasses, because you are are going to need them.

Holy crack is this bark orange or what?

I wonder how long it will take the bark to fade? On a positive note, the techno colored bark does make everything else POP.

Now that the pallets are in place, all I need is for the weather to warm up a bit and I’ll be able to set my lettuce starts out. I’m thinking about installing 2 or 3 potato towers to the right of the pallets. Last year they kind of bombed, but I think it may have been because I didn’t water them as much as I should have. If I place them in the main garden, I think they’ll have a better chance.

There will be no missing the bean teepees, that’s for sure. We didn’t get the bark until late yesterday afternoon, and this is where Monkey Boy and I ran out of steam.

Hopefully by this coming Friday all the bark in the driveway will be moved and I can order one more load for next weekend. If all goes as planned, we will only need a total of 30 yards to cover the entire area as opposed to the 75 yards Bark Guy said we needed.

You can’t really see it in this photo, but the poppies are starting to some up. Also, we planted around 20 artichoke starts in this area as well. I thought they might look cool mixed in with the poppies. What do you think?

In the next week or two this area will look a little different. More transplants will make their way out to the greenhouse and it should start to really fill up by the end of the month.

A whole lot of nothing going on here.

I would like to add 2 more raised garden beds somewhere on top of the landscape fabric. But where?

Do you see all the bulbs popping up under the cedar tree? Pretty cool if you ask me. I’ll take some pictures this week. The Girl is counting down the days until she can create some spring bouquets for her teachers.

A couple of you have suggested I plant some hosta plants alongside the log and I think it’s a great idea! As soon as I can find some I’ll grab a few and get them planted.

See the new little island of soil? I’m not sure what what I’ll plant there, but probably a cool weather crop because the area is pretty shaded. As for the chicken’s garden, I’m now thinking about planting some fava beans about a foot from the fence and kale and Swiss chard in front of the fava beans.

The pumpkin patch won’t be planted until mid June.

I’m such a slob. Can’t even get the hose picked up for pictures.

And last but no least, the herb garden that’s not quite a herb garden yet.

How is it going at YOUR place? Has the snow melted yet? We didn’t get any this year {booooo} and now it’s too late {I hope} so it’s time to get this garden started.

Peace Out Girl Scouts, get some sunshine, and enjoy the day.

~Mavis

This years garden is being sponsored by the awesome folks at Botanical Interests Seed Company. You can check out their website HERE, order their new 2013 Garden Seed Catalog HERE, or visit my {online} boyfriend Ryan’s blog HERE.

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How to Attract Birds to Your Garden

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By Mavis Butterfield on March 3, 2013 · 6 Comments

I love the sound of the birds chirping as I tool around in my garden–it’s such a tweet, ahem, treat.

If you want to turn your backyard into a bird-lovers paradise, here are a few sure-fire tips to ensure that you are a good bird hostess:

Provide plenty of fresh water for drinking and bathing. This is especially true in the winter, when birdie resources are a little more scarce. Birds will stay close to a consistent, clean water source.
Provide a variety of feed. Since variety is the spice of life, providing a couple of different feeders with different types of bird seed will increase your odds of lots of types of birds.
Plant pine trees. In the winter, quite a few types of birds seek the protective qualities of pine trees. They can hide easily from predators and pines provide a little more shelter from the elements.
No pine trees? No problem. Put a pile of branches and twig in the corner of the yard. A lot of birds prefer to make their homes on the ground in the safety of thick brush trimmings.
If possible, provide running water. The sound of running water will attract birds from miles away. Obviously, this is easier to do in the summer, when fountains, etc. are on.
A lot of birds dine consistently on bugs, but will supplement with fruits. Cut up apples or shrubs with fruits {think holly, elderberry, honeysuckle, etc.} provide another supplemental food source that will draw in the birds.
Clean out bird houses {if you have them} yearly. Birdhouses can foster bugs and parasites, so for the safety of any new inhabitants, it’s best to give them a good cleaning once a year.

How do you bring birds to your garden?

~Mavis

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DIY How to Create a Spring Flower Basket Using Moss

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By Mavis Butterfield on March 3, 2013 · 14 Comments

One of my favorite things to do this time of year is put together spring flower baskets. Luckily we have about as much moss as one could ever want growing in our backyard, so putting a few pots together is a snap. If you have never put your own spring basket together, here is how I do it.

First grab a few containers.

If you don’t have moss in your backyard, you can purchase fresh moss from a flower shop or bags of dried moss from home improvement or craft stores.

When I’m using moss, I like to use pots or baskets that have a few openings {or in this case many} so the moss will seep out and add a cool textured look when it’s all put together.

Gently line the baskets with moss. Make sure your moss goes over the edges of the container a bit, that way after you are done placing all your flowers in the container, you can fold the moss back in to the pot a bit for a cool look.

Wrestle your garden tools from your helper, and find a few plants.

Last fall I planted oodles of spring bulbs in the backyard. Luckily, I reserved about 100 bulbs or so and planted them in plastic trays to use in my spring flower containers.

The tiny pink primroses, violas and hot pink ranunculus flowers came from The Home Depot.

I always like to set the bulbs in the center of the container. For this basket I am using tulips and daffodils. Sadly I forgot to tag the little pots of tulips so I have no idea what color they will be.

Once the bulbs are set in the basket, fill in the rest of the space with your other flowers. When you are finished, fold the moss back into the basket for a bit of a more natural look.

And there you have it. How to create a spring flower basket using moss. C’mon spring!

How about YOU? Are you ready for spring yet?

~Mavis

Update: Here is what the flower basket looked like 1 month later.

Looking for more container gardening ideas? Check out Easy Container Gardens by Pamerla Crawford. It’s a great book!

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Mavis Garden Blog – The Neon Bark Bomb

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By Mavis Butterfield on March 3, 2013 · 21 Comments

Late last week I went to the place where they sell topsoil and bark. Normally I would have placed an order over the phone, but instead, I drove out there so I could make sure I was ordering exactly what I wanted. You know, not that horrible neon orange bark you see in everyone’s yard when you drive through suburbia.

The only problem was, it was raining heavily when I was out there and it was kind of hard to tell which variety I was suppose to order.

I mean, wet bark looks totally different than dry bark, right? Right?

Now maybe you live in a town where you can get bark for free. Or you know someone with a wood chipper, or your local road crew will deliver it to your house for a small fee after clearing brush and downed trees. Sadly, I do not live in such a place.

I have to buy my bark to keep my yard looking like everyone else’s. A lot of the neighbors use a bark blowing service. So I called the guy and basically he said I needed 75 yards of bark and that he was going to charge an arm and a leg. I thought he was crazy. So I politely declined his professional opinion and will now be spreading my own bark thank you very much. I think I only need 30 yards, he says 75, so we’ll see.

The only problem is, I ordered the WRONG FREAKIN’ SHADE OF BARK.

It may not look like it now, but just you wait. I’ll be posting my backyard garden tour pictures this afternoon, and you are going to pee your pants it’s so awful.

And there is nothing I can do about it either.

Now I’m stuck with this neon orange crap because I couldn’t exactly ask the guy with the big truck to shovel it back in his truck once I realized I had made a MAJOR ERROR.

~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.