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GardenGreener Living: House / Garden [« homepage]

I'm not Mr Green-fingers to say the least, but do have to go out and tacle the garden every now and then. Here are some things I do as well as others that you may want to consider:

  • Grow Your Own: It's not something I have the time or the energy for, but growing your own veg is much more sustainable than buying it as there is virtually no hidden energy involved such as the transport costs of importing fruit and veg from factory farms. Also, you are less likely to use environmentally harmful chemical fertilisers.
  • Composting: Composting is easy and everyone with a garden can do it. Apart from the cost of a composter, this one is free and gives you great compost for free. Also consider that most compost is transported from somewhere else, packaged and sometimes comes from non-sustainable sources (peat bogs etc). There are many different types of composter out there, but I went for the Green Johanna (Gardian article) as it can not only accept fruit and veg, it can also accept meat, pasta, rice, teabags egg shells etc without fear of rats or smells. You also don't have to add chemicals like some other meat & veg composters. It was easy to assemble (about a dozen screws) and can come with an extra 'winter jacket' to ensure the rotting process doesn't die off in the cold. The Green Johanna cost £98 without and £128 with the winter jacket (here or here). However, if this is too expensive, there are simpler versions (that only accept fruit, veg, grass etc) available at most garden centres. I would also suggest that you buy a 'kitchen caddy' to put all your kitchen waste in before you take it out to your composter. I got one with a carbon filter (cheap and easy to replace) that ensure there is no smell in the kitchen, even if it is left for a couple of days. This web site helps to explain what can usually be composted. Here's another good one.
  • Gas Patio Heaters: Patio heaters are a complete luxury that we don't need. They are very inefficient and use twice as much gas as normal gas cookers to produce the same amount of heat. Why not just wear a jumper or coat?
  • Front Garden: It may be tempting to concrete/pave over your front garden as so many people seem to be doing these days. However, it's always better to have greenery than concrete and I find it quite uplifting when I get home from work each day to see the garden. Strangely enough, it's also quite relaxing doing this garden and as they are generally quite small, very quick and easy to do! Did you know that the production of concrete generates at least it's own weight in CO2. Concreting over gardens also increases the risk of flooding as there is less surface avaialble for water to drain to. If you must convert your front garden to parking, try some of these suggestions for ethical paving.
  • Garden Tools: Try not to buy electric garden tools if at all possible (except maybe te mower). You get a free excercise work-out using proper manual tools and a much greater sense of satisfaction when you're finished!
  • Watering Your Plants: It's not really neccessary to water your plants - if they die through lack of waterings, then they're not the right ones for your garden. Non-one water's plants in the wild! It's best to select plants that are hardier and used to slightly more arid conditions - the garden centre should be able to give good advise on this. I personally, like heathers and shrubs.
  • Rainwater Harveting: By fitting a water butt connected to your rainwater pipes allows you to water your plants without wasting mains water. Rainwater is free, mains water isn't! Rainwater will also be purer and so better for your plants/garden.

Lawn Care:

  • Lawn Mower: Use an electric lawnmower rather than a petrol one. However, make sure it's a good one (not a cheap flymo) as the cheaper electric ones break in no time flat and you end up spending more on replacements on a regular basis. Even better, use a non-powered push lawn mower.
  • Don't Water Your Lawn: There really is no need to water your lawn. Although it can look brown and almost dead in the height of summer, it will always grown back green once the rain returns.
  • http://lifehacker.com/387251/how-to-water-your-lawn-efficiently
  • http://lifehacker.com/5547281/mow-less-often-for-a-better-lawn
  • http://www.nyc.gov/html/nycwasteless/html/compost/lawncare.shtml

Pesticides

Ants / Chalk: To keep ants out of your house, draw chalk lines around your doorways and windowsills. Ants won't cross a chalk line. Why? It's not entirely clear, but some say the ants don't like the particles sticking to their feet, while others say they're averse to the calcium carbonate in the chalk. Whatever the reason, this nontoxic solution will keep ants outside where they belong. Apparently cucumbers work as well.

Weed Killers

If your garden is beginning to look like a wilderness, it may be time to get rid of the weeds. You don't need a toxic chemical spray to get rid of them. These chemical based weed killers are great at sorting out your weeds, but eventually the chemicals end up in the water course. The following are some cheap and simple alternatives:

  1. Boiling Water: Take a jug of boiling water and pour it all over the plants you want to kill, and it will basically boil the weeds to death. But be warned, boiling water is not selective. It will cook and instantly kill any plant that it comes in contact with and this includes underground roots of nearby plants. It also sterilises grass roots, so try not to pour it on your lawn (e.g. for weeds or ants).
  2. Covering: If you've got a more expansive area to deal with — say you're planting a garden bed in an area that was once all weed growth — cover the grass with a thick tarpaulin sheet, shopping bags, canvas sheet or even newspaper (at least four layers of paper). This will prevent the plants from getting the sun that they need, and so will eventually die. Another way of covering that is more permanent is to put down a layer of mulch, or dry bark as well.
  3. Lemon Juice: You can also douse your weeds with lemon juice and they'll shrivel with a day or two.
  4. Vinegar: If hot water and lemon juice aren't a feasible option, you can pour cheap white vinegar or cider vinegar over your weeds. The acidic liquid (acetic acid in this case) will send them to the graveyard. However, vinegar will only kill back (kill the leaves but not the root) any plant and so works best on young plants because they do not have enough energy stored in the roots to regrow their leaves. If vinegar is applied to more established weeds enough times, the plant will eventually deplete its stored energy reserves and die.
  5. Bleach: Place some bleach in a spray bottle and spray. The bleach chemicals will evaporate or dissipate in about two days or less, making the area safe for planting. Like boiling water, bleach will kill anything but if you do get some on a plant you want to keep, just wash the plant off.
  6. Salt: (Use with care) Salt will kill plants and make the ground unsuitable for future plant growth. On a small scale, you can drop a small pinch of table salt at the base of the undesirable plants. It will kill the plant but will dilute down to harmless in the next few rainfalls. On a larger scale, you can cover your gravel driveway with a good amount of salt and nothing will grow there for months.
  7. Surgical Spirit (Rubbing Alcohol): Surgical spirit draws water out and helps to evaporate it quickly. If you put it on a plant, it will do the same thing. You will basically be sucking the life blood out of the weed. But again, it's non-selective. It will kill any vegetation it comes contact with.
  8. Corn Meal (Polenta or ground maize): Corn meal doesn't really kill weeds, it just stops the weed seeds from ever developing. Corn Gluten is a pre-emergent, which is a fancy way of saying that it is seed birth-control. Corn meal scattered around an area will keep any seed in that area from growing into a plant. This method is a good option for areas that you plan on planting already grown plants in.
  9. Organic / Biodegradable Weed killer: There are also proprietary products out there that are designed to be as gentle to the

As an added bonus, many of these homemade weed killers can be combined to produce great results. For example, the boiling water can be mixed with the salt or the vinegar (or both) for a super weed killer. Use common sense when combining chemicals and make sure that there are no adverse reactions.

Bottle Weed KillerYou can also add a few drops of washing-up-liquid to your homemade weed killer for added effectiveness. The soap is not harmful to the weeds but acts as a bonding agent and will help the weed killers to stick to the weed more effectively.

To make sure your weed killer hit's the right spot and doesn't get your roses, you can make a simple shield out our a lemonade bottle. Simply cut off the bottom, place it over the weed and spray through the top.

 

(Weed killer info credits: casasugar.com and thisgardenisilliegal.com)

 

 

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