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!

Check out this story and pictures Jana from Austin, Texas sent in for a little garden inspiration:

Hi Mavis!

When I was first inspired by your gardening adventures, we lived in Hillsboro, OR. A year ago we moved to Austin, TX and one of my goals was to have a raised bed garden in the tiny backyard of our new house. My husband built this whole 20′ x 30′ “urban farm” in early March. I had started some plants from seed, some were bedding plants, some seeds were sown directly and we planted it all before St. Paddy’s Day. We have 21 tomatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots, broccoli raab, snow peas, lettuce, corn, jalapeno peppers, bell peppers, brussel sprouts, Blue Lake green beans, cilantro, basil and chives.

The growing season here is very different from the Pacific Northwest, some plants can be in the ground in January and the whole party is over by late June (too hot for most things by then). It is possible to squeeze in a second growing season starting in early fall, if you play your cards right.

Here is an overview of the six 4′ x 8′ beds and one 4′ x 4′ bed, all made from 2″x 6″ cedar with heavy duty landscape cloth on the bottom and a mixture of garden soil, compost, sand and riverbed soil. We are in a new neighborhood, so we recycled old survey stakes and built supports which can be used again next year for the tomatoes. I tied bamboo poles together to make teepees for the Oregon snow peas.

These are Campari tomatoes, lettuce, bell peppers and protective marigolds (I swear they and the ladybugs repelled a multitude of bugs). One day in March, on a whim, I took an egg carton, planted a tomato seed in potting soil in each cup (taken from my Costco Campari lunch tomato) just to see if they would grow. Lo and behold, they not only grew, they thrived and now we have 8 Campari’s with little tomatoes!

We have 27 white corn stalks. Today I saw the first corn silk on several plants, so we should have corn soon. The toughest thing about growing corn in a Texas spring was all the WIND. Several of the little corns were blown completely out of the ground and we’ve had to prop up some of the bigger plants after being blown over.

Jalapenos do very well in this hot, dry climate. This bed also has brussel sprouts (which I planted too late and will probably not get sprouts), Blue Lake green beans, which have tons of little beans on them and spinach, which has done well.

This bed has cabbage, onions and carrots. You can see the 4″ x 4″ cedar posts my husband used in the corners of each raised bed for stability. He also screwed them together versus nailing as he wants them to last a long time!

These are the heirloom tomato plants. We have Ox Heart and Cherokee Purple. Also, there are 4 Italian Roma tomato plants, 1 Sun Gold and 1 Supersweet 100 cherry tomato, 4 New Girls, 2 Celebrity tomatoes and the 8 Campari’s. All of them are covered in flowers and there are mature tomatoes on each just turning red.

Here is my garden craft project. I made this planter from the last bit of cement in the wheelbarrow when hubby was building something else. I used a shoebox, lining it with wet cement which I hollowed out, let cure and popped out of the cardboard after it had dried. Makes a nice, although rather shallow planter for English Daisies on the patio table.

Hope you find my garden interesting enough to use in your blog. Come visit Austin sometime. It is a blast and a world traveler like you would love it!

~ Jana

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.

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