Another Garden Tip Using old Newspaper

In my last post I talked about using newspaper to lay out paths that would remain weedless. Well last night in my Temple food crop class I learned another trick involving newspaper and gardening. We were constructing plots that were going to be used by members of the community, the problem was that all of this sunshine and rain has promoted weeds. The weeds completely covered these gardens with some being knee high. We started by dividing the big plot into individual ones using newspaper and wood chips to lay out paths. After words some students started to pull the weeds by hand but this would have taken days to complete. My teacher than showed us this trick. We started by removing any thistle, this is a particularly mean and tough weed that will poke right through any layering on top of it. Thistle is easy to identify by its fuzzy appearance and if you have any in your garden it is recommended that you get rid of it as soon as possible before it takes over. After the thistle was removed we completely covered the plot with newspaper, going at least a few sheets thick and making sure to carefully over lap all the corners of the paper. Then we just covered the newspaper with a layer of finished compost or top soil. This method will fry all the weeds underneath of the paper turning them into nutrients for the garden. When planting the plants in the garden you just cut a hole through the newspaper. The newspaper will allow water to seep through it to your plants roots. Some seeds such as lettuce can even be tossed right on top of the topsoil and the roots will go right down through the newspaper. This is an easy method that avoids pretty much any weeding and is especially good for areas such as a lawn that is being converted to a garden for the first time. The newspaper will compost by next year and you can do the same thing over again.

Building a Garden

This hot weather has got me in the mood to do some gardening. It is still probably alittle to early to put all of your plants outside but if your anything like me your garden needs plenty of prep work anyway. So thats what I did this weekend got my garden in working order. The first thing I had to do was get rid of all the dead plant material left over from last year. This went directly into the compost. The next step was to get rid of all the weeds, which have basically taken over my garden. This is weird but for some reason I find pulling weed relaxing and stress relieving. Weeds can actually go right in to the compost too. I was worried they would just take over that but the heat created in the composting process kills everything. Now that I had a weed free garden I wanted to make some garden paths through it so that it would be easier to collect the fruits and vegetables and continue to pull weeds through out the summer. Atrick I just learned in my food crop class at Temple was to use old news paper to make the paths. All you have to do is lay the paper down atleast a few sheets thick and than pour some wood chips on top and you will be guaranteed a weed free path, plus by the time the next season comes around the path will have fully decomposed into the soil allowing you to rearrange new paths anyway you would like. This is an excellent way of getting rid of old news paper and seems like the ultimate recycling as the paper is turned right back into nutrients for future plants. Now that your garden is ready you can start planting certain plants such as lettuce and broccoli. For other plants you should check their labels as I'm not a 100% sure. I know it seems weird after the temp has reached 90 but their is still a chance for a late frost. You can use milk cartoons to make mini green houses too that will better the chance of any plant living outdoors.

Yard Sales!!

A good way to avoid over consuming, a serious problem in America is to reuse old items. This doesn't only mean that you have to be the one doing the reusing! A good way to extend the life of old goods that are still good just old is by either having a yard sale or doing some of your shopping at yard sales. Just yesterday I took advantage of one of the nicest days of the year so far and did a little yard sale shopping. One particular stop paid off really well for me too in that not only was I able to get some good fishing lures but I picked up a lot of advice as well. One of the things that I really miss from my childhood is going to the local hunting and fishing stores. A few weeks ago with the opening of trout season I found to my sad surprise that all the ones in my area had recently closed down without me even knowing. The only place to buy fishing goods within a 30minute drive of my house are Walmart and KMart...Not much for choices! At one of the yard sales I went to though an old man was selling some of his lures(he had hundreds) in an effort to condense his toolbox size tackle box. He was kind enough to tell me about some of his favorite holes in the area, the kind of advice and service that's hard to find at Walmart! Also the price of 25cents a lure is hard to beat. The deals didn't stop there though. At another yard sale I went to later in the day I arrived at as the family was packing up. I asked how much an old but beside a few scratches perfectly good desk was. My answer was that if I took it now free because they didn't want to carry it back in the house. A price that again fits my budget!!
Heres some advice I have gathered from past yard sales my family has had in case you want to have your own.
1-In the case of my family the yard sales were more about getting ride of stuff that was to good to throw out then in actually making alot of money back. So take the day in stride and just have fun. A good way to look at a yard sale I think is as a relaxing day hanging out in your front yard. Don't look at it has a day of work.
2-That being said yard sales are a good way of making some money for things your would either throw out or give away, just don't stress about it.
3-My job as a kid was always making signs and than riding around and putting them on telephones with big arrows. This is a good way to get the attention of people just make sure you go and clean them up afterwards.
4-Haggling! This is your choice but in the case of my family we love a good haggle so we didn't really put price tags on things. I must warn you though that theres always a better haggler out there so if you have a price that you definitly want for something label it but even this might not stop the costumers from attempting to get a better deal. So I say gain some business experience and leave the price tags off and prepare to go toe to toe with the best.
5-This should probably be number one but check the weather!! A day thats too hot will keep costumers away and make for a miserable time and rain will ruin your stuff.
6-Make sure if you live in a house with other people that all of the items your selling are your own or you have the owners permission. I once witness my little sister chase a car down the street because my mom sold her favorite rocking chair.
7-Again just have fun!

Eco Friendly Grass Cutting

With summer just around the corner and all of this rain we are getting now I know before long I will have to be cutting my grass. Surprisingly, there are many aspects to grass cutting that can contribute to an eco friendly lifestyle. I knew before that gas power lawn mowers emitted pollution but I had no idea how adverse they could be. According to EPA statistics gas powered lawn mowers contribute as much as 5% of America’s air pollution! The pollution emitted by the average gas lawn mower is equal to that of 43 cars! A problem to is that until 1995 there were no laws in place concerning lawn mower pollution. Here is what you can do. First if you have an older mower(pre 1995) consider upgrading. When purchasing a new mower you should definitely consider other options besides gas power, as even new gas mowers are big pollutants. One option is electric. I know in the past I always hated the idea of electric mowers because I was afraid of running over the cord. This problem has been corrected though in that new electric mowers are actually cordless. If you really want to be eco friendly though consider getting a push mower! The biggest fear I feel people have against push mowers is that they don’t do a good job. I can assure though that this is not the case! I used a push mower when I was a little kid before I could be trusted with a more dangerous gas mower and let me tell you there is no difference in the quality of the cut. I’m going to switch back to using my old push mower this summer. It is important that you keep your blades sharp for good quality and that will be the first thing that I do.
The type of mower you use isn’t where the eco friendly lifestyle ends though. Cutting grass obviously produces a lot of grass clippings that are perfect for the compost. When racking up your lawn don’t be to obsessive about getting all the clippings as any left behind will compost on the spot providing your lawn with a nice natural fertilizer.
For more scary statistics on gas power lawn mowers check out the EPA’s website
Also this site provides a lot of information about the latest push mowers and other gas power alternatives.
http://www.peoplepoweredmachines.com/faq-environment.htm

Many cleaning products on the market are filled with toxic environmentally dangerous ingredients that I knew were there but accepted as necessary to do the job. This I am finding out is not true. You can use items you probably already have in your home to produce cleaning products that are safe for the environment, cheap, and do just as good a job of cleaning.
You can make your own window cleaner by mixing 3 table spoons of vinegar, 2 cups of water, and 1/4cup of a good liquid detergent in a spray bottle.
Having a tough time getting your oven clean? Try baking soda, warm water, and a little detergent.
What about that old piece of wood furniture? Want to make it shine again? Try mixing 2 teaspoons of olive oil and a ¼ cup of lemon juice. Apply using an old rag and your wood surfaces will look as good as new.
For more ideas on cheap non-toxic cleaning products check out this website!

An Eco-Friendly Night Out

If you read my classmates blog http://greenyourlifephilly.blogspot.com/ you would have seen the recent post about eating out responsibly. Well I put that to the test! I went to Govinda's Café a restaurant on my other classmates blog http://livingecofriendlylifestyle.blogspot.com/ of vegan friendly places to eat in Philly. To start I walked there, which was about 7blocks. I had never tried to eat vegan before so I was kind of worried if I would be satisfied with the food but my meal was very tasty, filling and healthy. I had brought my own container to take my leftovers home in but I kind of ruined that by eating it all. Like I said the food was good and maybe the walk there made me extra hungry. When I was done I was feeling pretty stuffed and not excited to have to walk home but after about a block I started to enjoy the walking as it got my metabolism going. All and all, it was a nice eco-friendly outing, next time I’m going to maybe order a little extra so I can use my own take home containers.

Update on the Eco Life

Just to let you know how I’ve been doing changing my life style to an eco-friendly one I’ve created this update. The most important step for me was reducing the amount of trash and waste I through away. My compost has been a great success, besides the occasional absentmindedness when I forget to put materials in the paper bag in the freezer I’ve created a good amount of fertilizer I can’t wait to use when I start my garden in another month. I have also learned that it is safe to add egg shells to the compost but make sure you break them up first as they take a long time to dissolve and release their calcium. For a good web site on composting dos and don’ts have a look here. Delicious Organics . This last week by carrying my own water bottle to class, using my school bag when I went shopping, and reusing a tuber ware container everyday for lunch I only actually have one piece of plastic to recycle. That is from a mouthwash container that is a Number 1 type plastic so it will definitely be accepted at my local center. I also have a few milk gallon containers, which are Number 2 type plastics, but I am saving them for my garden. A cool trick is to cut the bottom off and place overtop of young sprouts to create a mini green house that allows plants to be planted outside a couple of weeks early.