This is a guest post by Caroline Doherty of Century 21 B.J. Roth Realty.
The economy has shifted and people are more interested than ever in living “GREEN”. There are so many more things we can do in our day to day lives than consuming less energy and conserving water.
Many environmentally and budget friendly ideas hail from the post war days. Grandma always reused tinfoil, wax paper, and bread bags. She greased cake pans and baking trays with the butter wrapper she kept in the fridge. She turned stale bread into stuffing, bread pudding and French toast. She minced any leftover meat and made shepherd’s pie. Nothing went to waste, so if you think like grandma would have done, you might be inspired to reuse, recycle and repurpose.
Be sure and remember you can do these types of things outside as well as in. Think about starting your own compost bin in that corner of the yard you never use. Start using a rain barrel to capture and reuse water, your garden will thank you for it.
I’ll leave you with this… why use chemicals and pesticides that are harmful to humans, pets and the environment if you could use an alternative, non-toxic option. Here are five great tricks to ward off home and garden pests:
- Diatomaceous Earth
is one of the safest pesticides for ridding homes and gardens of unwanted insects. This fine, soft powder looks harmless, but under a microscope is actually made up of tiny glass-like shards. As pests such as ants and cockroaches crawl over the earth, they are injured and eventually dry out and die. Diatomaceous earth is available at most garden centers.
- Beer is a natural way to prevent slugs from chewing garden plants. Pour beer into a shallow plastic container and leave it in your garden overnight. Slugs will be attracted to the beer, fall in and drown.
- Dish soap mixed with water and sprayed on plants will help control aphids. Leave the mixture on plants for approximately 30 minutes before washing off.
- Boiling water, when poured between the cracks of pavement stones, will help to destroy weeds and ants.
- Mint is an effective natural pest deterrent. Plant it in your garden to ward off mice, ants, fleas, flies and moths. Gardeners recommend planting mint in pots and then placing into bedding soil – mint can take over your garden if allowed to grow freely.
Think, live… go Green!
Thank you to my sources: Melanie Wren – Our Homes Magazine & Century 21 Canada
