When the weather gets warmer and we see more of the sun and less of the cold, many of us turn our attentions to the outdoors. Our lawn is one of the first bits of nature that we see; we walk through it when we come home from work, or head out to the grocery store. As summer begins and progresses, lawn care moves to the forefront of our minds. However, many of us are simply taking care of our lawn, not the environment as a whole. Many products and practices focused on producing greener, healthier lawns are not eco-friendly.
You may wonder: ?If I?m improving my environment, how am I not being eco-friendly?? Based on studies performed by The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the 1980s and 1990s it is estimated that nearly 67% of the fertilizers that Americans use on their lawns is wasted. This fertilizer runs off into streams and storm drains, adding to water pollution. Lawn care also accounts for 10% of air pollution! By simply making small changes in lawn care practices, the amount of this pollution can be dramatically reduced.
A healthy lawn requires more nitrogen fertilizer than other garden plants to stay green; this is one reason that lawn care so easily contributes to pollution. However, the grass clippings left behind by mowing can provide nearly one third of the nitrogen that your lawn needs! As the grass clippings break down, they will return nutrients to the soil. There are many organic fertilizers that are now readily available to supplement the natural fertilization by grass clippings. The organic fertilizers will add the slow, steady supply of nutrients that your lawn needs to look its best. These can be found at any home improvement store, and work wonders on your lawn while remaining eco-friendly.
There?s really nothing like a tomato sandwich in the summertime. Simple and delicious, you can almost taste the sunshine that ripened the tomato. Even though now, thanks to greenhouses, you can buy tomatoes year-round, they can?t even come close to tomatoes enjoyed while in season. Even for those without green thumbs, tomatoes are actually very simple to grow. And you don?t even need a house with a large yard to grow a tomato garden; many people grow tomatoes on rooftop gardens and even on tables in their kitchen. All you need to grow tomatoes is some tomato plants or seeds, a container and some soil to grow them in, water, and plenty of sunlight.
Just a few tomato plants will produce a bountiful harvest of tomatoes, enough to share with an average sized family and pass on to some friends or neighbors, too. When it comes time to buy your tomato plants, you may consider paying a little more to purchase tomato plants that have been bred with built-in resistance to common tomato plant maladies like nematodes, fusarium, and verticillium.
When it?s time to put your tomato plants into soil, buy a pH kit at your local gardening or hardware soil to test the pH of your soil; tomatoes grow best in neutral to slightly acidic soil with a pH of 6.5 to 7. Your plants should also have enough room so that the tomato plants? roots have enough room to expand. Mulch around the plants to help block weeds from sprouting and to help stabilize the soil. Consistently water your plants, make sure they?re getting adequate sunlight, fertilize them, and before you know it you?ll be reaping the rewards of your tomato harvest?delicious, juicy tomatoes that will taste even more delicious since you grew them!
If you?re considering painting your house, it?s often more complicated than just going to the local home improvement store and choosing your favorite color sample. Many neighborhoods have codes that prevent certain architectural styles, yard ornamentation, and various other details that can be found in a handbook provided by your Homeowners? Association. Traditional colors aren?t usually the problem?it?s certain bright colors and pastels that might make your house stand out in a way that your neighbors may not appreciate. But once you?ve established that you?re permitted to paint your house that color you?re considering, make sure you put enough thought into it. Painting your house, especially if it?s large and has a lot of exterior trim, is quite an undertaking, so once it?s painted you?ll probably be looking at it for a few years to come.
Assuming you own your home and your family and/or the other residents of your house have decided on the color, it?s time to find someone to paint it. You can always look in the phonebook for painters, but it?s best to get a recommendation from a friend, family members, neighbor of coworker because the painters will, after all, be working on your home and you want to feel like you can trust them and they?ll do a great job at a fair price. If you do end up having to pick a painter at random from the phonebook, considering asking a few different painters to come out and provide an estimate before you make your decision. You?ll also need to know how long it will take and may also ask to look at a portfolio of their past work.
Making well-informed decisions about the painting of your house will pay off in the long run. You want to be satisfied with the way your house looks, the exact color you?ve dreamed about and a home whose driveway you can pull into every day and beam with pride.