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!
~Mavis
Hi Mavis,
Christine from North Georgia here. I wanted to share the container garden I built myself. As we save up for a house/ land, my boyfriend and I are renting a townhome in a small subdivision with an HOA. Not being allowed to dig into the lawn to plant food, I decided to assemble a rag tag team of Rubbermaid bins to grow my food in. All the bins were bought for a dollar or so a piece at our local Habitat for Humanity Restore. I drilled plenty of drainage holes into the bottom of each bin, then I lined them with lava rocks for drainage and newspaper so the dirt doesn’t seep out. I mixed my own potting soil by hand using topsoil, compost from our landfill, perlite, and sand. This was quite a chore, but I couldn’t be more pleased with how they turned out.
I propped each bin up on scrap stone (free from landscapers), old tires, metal rails – basically anything I could find. I am a big believer in upcycling. I set up everything for $92. I estimate about 35 square feet of planting area.
Mid spring whole garden – on the right you can see the brush trellis I made for my snap peas – it worked pretty well!
Arugula was bonkers.
Front to back: spinach/ radishes, radishes, turnips.
Lettuces and radishes in a baby pool I rescued from the side of the road.
Cherry tomatoes, hot peppers, and basil in the summer lettuce pool.
Pine branch teepee for cucumbers to climb
In the spring we grew snap peas, cilantro and parsley, spinach, arugula, carrots, turnips, radishes, beets, potatoes, and lots of lettuce. Currently we have tomatoes, peppers, okra, beans, cucumbers, zucchini, basil, and rainbow chard going. I plant to do another round of cool weather crops in the fall, then try my luck at brussels sprouts this winter.
Pole beans and chard.
Burgandy okra.
Peppers and maters on a trellis.
I also have a little tea/ herb garden I stuck in the landscaping in the front of my house. Oregano, lemon thyme, chamomile, pineapple sage, garden sage, lavender, and rosemary so far. In this picture you can see my worm bin up on the porch. 
I built a worm bin for all our food scraps … I didn’t think a big compost pile would sit so well with the HOA. I love my wormies – they kick butt at breaking down food. I can’t wait to harvest castings for the first time…
Right after I released my worms into their new home.
Thanks for looking looking! Check out my blog: The barefoot budget
Christine
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.
Tamara says
Awesome!
Lisa Millar says
This looks amazing!
I want worms now!! 🙂
I love the way you got around the HOA and have assembled such a fantastic container garden! You have so much growing and it all looks so lush!
(I can’t help thinking that if this was in Mavis’s street her HOA would have a collective heart attack!!)
It really shows people what can be done, even with restrictions of space or HOA’s!
Cheers
Lisa L says
This might just be my favorite garden that you have featured!
It also makes me realize what a whiney pants I can be when all my stuff doesn’t match. I definitely need to broaden my horizons.
Christine says
Yay! I’m so glad you featured me! I love this blog and have been reading for over two years. Thanks for all the kind words everyone 🙂 🙂
beth says
I have never lived inside an HOA but aren’t you breaking the rules by creating what some might call a mess out near the street? I love your ideas but some people must hate it.
Perhaps your HOA will come up with new rules to prevent people from trying things like this in the future?
Christine says
Thanks for the comment! This is a great point. I certainly thought of this before I started building. I live in a sub-division in a college town that is not fancy at all. In fact, most of the homes are owned by someone and rented out to others (like mine). The HOA prevents digging out any of the lawn, but I did not break any rules. My containers are all on my drive way, which is off an alley. So you can’t see them from the street. There are other homes on my alley who have tons of junk or even trash taking up their driveways. So I don’t think anyone cares.
I was anticipating someone saying something to me or asking me to take them down. The opposite has happened! So many people have approached me, telling me they love what I have done. A few other people have started growing food in a container or two on their patio. People have been very interested, and I have enjoyed sharing my experience of how easy it is to grow food anywhere. Someone even came up and asked me if I would sell them some produce! I’ve been sharing my bumper crops with neighbors for free, hoping to inspire 🙂
I try to keep everything as well maintained as possible so it doesn’t look all weedy and overgrown. I would hope if someone had an issue, they would come talk to me. But I haven’t heard anything yet!
beth says
I don’t live in an HOA but my neighbours have mentioned to me that I should pave the gravel part of my driveway because everyone else has their driveways fully paved. I have no money in my budget for cosmetics that would appease the neighbours and there is so city bylaw that says driveways must be paved.
Helen in Meridian says
You sound like the kind of person who would become an HOA member spy to rat out your neighbors. Be more positive about her desire to grow her own food.
Lisa Millar says
Hi Beth – glad you asked the question as I was curious as well. It was interesting to read Christine’s reply and explanations.
It was great to read that instead of people being annoyed about it, they were all getting inspired and getting into it as well!
I think Helen’s comment may have been a little harsh!
Sharon@MLT says
I love, this garden. It shows you can garden anywhere, you just have to be creative.
Everything is nice and tidy. I envy the okra planting. Too cold in the Northwest to grow them. I’m lucky if I can find frozen.
The owl doormat is adorable.
Vy says
I love your innovation. You can’t keep a gardener down, because we always find a way 🙂
ilona says
WOW, Christine! I truly salute your innovation and frugality!
granny says
I’m an older gardener. I went from regular gardening to raised beds. Naow I’m having difficulty getting to my beds and want to do some containers on my deck..Do you have to change the dirt each year?
Thanks, Granny
Janice says
I live in North Georgia too and started gardening in rubber totes this year. I have tomatoes, cucumbers, and bell peppers. I love this! Thank you for sharing this information, it really has helped me. Digging in Georgia dirt isn’t easy.