A big THANK YOU to everyone who has sent in their photographs and stories. I hope by sharing other peoples garden pictures and stories here on One Hundred Dollars a Month we can all have a rock star garden this summer. Keep them coming!
Hi Mavis,
Here are a few pix of our kitchen garden.
We put in this raised bed garden in 2011 with the intention of growing what we needed for the year. Prior to this we had two smaller garden plots.
The raised beds have been much more productive than we anticipated. In truth we probably could have scaled this back but it’s in now and we have plenty to share with our friends.
My claim to fame is last year we got 475lbs of potatoes from nine beds.
Our original goal was to use 100% heirloom crops and save seed from year to year. As it is we’re using about 75% heirloom. We always spot in several new things we come across at the farm markets.
We’ve built the raised beds from local hemlock milled just down the road.
We are the odd ducks on our road having NO chickens. Our farm neighbors supply all our eggs (and give us manure for extra compost) as well as trading/buying for beef, pork and meat birds.
A few years ago the PBS show Growing a Greener World put a shot of the garden on their web page. I didn’t know they had it and the next morning when I sat down to check email and comments (on a normal day about 10) and saw 500+ likes I thought I’d been hacked (eventually it had over 10,000 shares) apparently there are gardening folks out there.
My wife Joan and I enjoy following your posts.
Regards,
Ken from NE Pennsylvania
If you would like to have your garden, chicken coop, pantry 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 Pantry Pics – Submit at least 5 HIGH QUALITY pictures of your pantry/fridge/cabinets, as well as a short blurb {at the very least} about you and your food habits.
- 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.
Laura says
Sorry! I left in the above comment in the wrong place! Please feel free to delete it, Mavis!
Ken, your garden is AWESOME! I have a large growing area and have had better luck with raised beds but always felt guilty about not just growing in the ground. No more! You are an inspiration to us all. Fantastic job!!!
Gwenn says
I am in awe of and in love with your kitchen garden…now I have photo’s to show the HH of what I hope our garden will get to some day. They look so organized and plentiful. Fantastic job indeed.
Maxine says
Truly beautiful! Please explain the square holes?
Ken Newman says
They’re not really square…it’s just the shape Joan’s hand made when she was scooping out the soil to plant the seed potatoes. I had just gone through before her and turned the soil digging in some fresh compost so it was very loose and she just used her hand to plant.
Tammy says
Simply amazing!!! I love it. It’s all so beautiful!
Deborah says
Impressive!!!
Teresa says
WOW WOW and WOW! I am thoroughly impressed. Thank you for sharing your beautiful garden.
janet in woodway says
Beautiful! How many raised beds do you have?
Thanks for sharing!
Ken Newman says
Janet,,,there are 65 raised beds inside the fence.
Daddio7 says
Well Maxine, I think the square holes are where he is planting potato seed pieces. For everyone else the bar is now impossibly high. It will take a lot of effort to get my modest attempt presentable. I do have a half acre I keep mowed next to the woods and now my wife wants me to duplicate Ken’s set up. Thanks a lot Ken.
Debbi Atkinson says
Wow! That is just fantastic. I don’t think we will ever make it to your level, Ken but it is nice to be inspired.
Stephanie says
Very impressive!
Lisa Millar says
That’s a total WOW from me! How amazing and beautiful does this all look??!!
I wanted to add some more raised garden beds over winter ready for next season, but wow – I am rather inspired by this and my plans have just gotten a little bigger!
auntie says
What a spectacular garden. Ken has raised the bar.
Deborah from FL says
Wowza!! I tip my wide-brimmed gardening hat to you, sir! 🙂
Tracy L. says
Ahhhhhmazing Ken!!! Some day…..some day I hope to grow up and live just like you! Can you please tell me the sizes of your raised beds. Thanks for sharing!!!
Ken Newman says
Tracy, Most of the inside beds are 4′ x 8′ the beds that are around the perimeter are 12′ x 3′. Most of them are 12″ deep, the beds across the back are 18″ deep.
Leslie says
W H A T …. Amazing! What a beautiful garden you have, Ken!
Preppy Pink Crocodile says
Does Ken have a blog or Instagram account? I’d love to follow along with his growing season!
Ken Newman says
I’m only on Facebook, almost everything I post is public so you can follow along there if you want to. My Facebook page is my name, Ken Newman…send me a friend request and you’ll get notifications when I post stuff ( although you’ll be seeing as many cat and wildlife pix as garden stuff.)
Cathy says
Would you please elaborate on how you grow the potatoes in raised beds? Do you do any hilling or add soil on top as the plants grow in the beds? We also garden in raised beds and are trying to figure out how to maximize our potato yield (5 kids at home who love potatoes).
Your garden looks amazing! Thanks so much for sharing.
Ken Newman says
We keep a stockpile on hand to add soil as it’s needed. Over the years as we keep adding compost the beds get a little too filled and we have to dig them down a bit. The photo above where J is planting the seed potatoes was taken just after I turned in some fresh compost so it will settle a bit leaving room to add….then it’s just keeping an eye out to make sure if any grow to the surface and get exposed we get them covered. ( this usually happens toward the end of the season a couple weeks before we’re ready to dig them so it’s not a big deal). The thing you need to do is prepare a place to store them…..they’ll keep well into late spring if they’re in the right conditions. Good luck with yours ( Have you ever had “new” potatoes?….you’ll be spoiled for life!)