Chemical Free or Organic Gardening
Thousand of chemicals are used every year in gardening which helps contaminate our environment. Another thing is millions of gallons of water are needlessly wasted in growing plants. Ok, most of this happens by large agricultural producers, but many of us are still doing it in our personal gardens. This means that you too can make a difference simply by changing some of your gardening practices. Some large agricultural producers have made the changes needed, and if they can do it you too can make changes that help your own garden, and the planet.
Pull weeds. Yes I know we are all naturally lazy and are looking for the quickest and easiest way to safely get rid of weeds without chemicals. But the good old fashioned way is still one of the most effective ways. Just take a little time every day to pull some weeds, that way it doesn’t seem like a lot of work. You might even get the kids involved, just be careful how you do it so you don’t spread the seeds around.
Plant some natural repelling plants. You don’t need to rely on poisons to keep away garden ruining pests. Many plants produce chemicals that repel these critters naturally. By planting them around in your garden, you can control pests with little effort and no chemicals. You can also use these plants to make products to keep pests away from you too.
If you don’t have room to plant these natural repellent plants in your garden, you can use them to make sprays you can use on your plants without harming them or adding artificial chemicals to your garden. Herbs like vanilla, hot pepper and lavender can help repel insects from your garden.
Pick appropriate plants. Not all plants are appropriate for the area you live in. While we would like to we can’t control the temperature, humidity, and rain conditions in our garden. Don’t get me wrong we sure try but If you pick appropriate plants for your area, you may be able to avoid using fertilizers and saving on water too. We all try to expand our environment as much as we can, don’t we? But if we research which plants are native to our surrounding area and plant them in our own garden then they will be much more tolerant and grow without all the chemicals.
Crop rotation. Farmers all over the world use crop rotation as a way of naturally fertilizing. The idea is to change what you’re growing in a certain field each year. You see plants use different nutrients and put other nutrients back into the soil. When you rotate crops that replaces the nutrients the other plants used. This way you will have to fertilize less. This same concept can be used in your garden by rotating where you put specific plants in the garden or planting different plants every year.
After you’ve made all these changes of using less water and being chemical free the next important thing is to pass it on! Yes one garden can make a difference, but more can make an even bigger difference. So help your friends and neighbors to make the same changes. Teach your kids, and teach your kids friends! Every little bit will help make this a better world.
Using Solar Lighting For Your Pool
You may struggle to see how you can be a part of solar energy as a global energy initiative. There is no debate, however, on how you can start taking advantage of smaller initiatives such as going solar for your pool lighting.
So why should you use Solar Lighting for your pool?
You may not know but solar energy has been used by man almost since the beginning of time. One recorded early user was John Herschel, a British explorer, who in the 1830′s used the first modified solar collector to cook food on an African expedition. Since that time man has come a long way in figuring out ways to harness the sun’s power in both big and small ways.
One smaller way that the average person can use solar power in a cost effective way is for solar pool lighting .
Many homeowners who have a pool take advantage of the use of pool lighting so that they can enhance the look of their backyard. They also use pool lights at night for safety and atmosphere. Unfortunately, traditional lighting can be a real drag on your electric bill.
If you go the battery route it can a real pain in the derriere. If you are using floating pool lights with batteries you will find out that these batteries are not cheap and the lights can be actually quite costly to run. These batteries are also harmful to the environment if not disposed of properly.
A question you might be asking yourself is if there are any other options for illuminating your pool. These options need to be both cost effective and easy to work with. The option that really solves all the problems is solar pool lighting .
These lights float on the surface of the water. They collect the sun’s energy all day via the solar collectors they have on the top of their waterproof case. This collected solar energy is stored in a rechargeable battery located within the light.
The solar pool lights are turned on automatically with a light sensor as night falls. The power stored in the battery powers a small LED light which is very energy efficient. This allows the stored energy to power the pool lights for eight to ten hours at a stretch.
Though using solar pool lights may seem very small in the battle both against the utility bills and fossil fuel usage, you need to appreciate that every little step helps. Even changing one light bulb in your house to an energy efficient light bulb will save you money. Not only that but it is a part of saving thousands of tons of pollutant from fossil fuel energy production. If we each did our part it would make a big difference given the sheer numbers.
So if you have a pool you should consider converting your pool lighting to solar and help the green revolution.