A Green Hoe™ Give-Away

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In honor of St. Patrick’s Day, we are excited to offer our first Green Hoe™  Give-away!  Please share YOUR favorite ‘GREEN eco-friendly practice in the home or garden by leaving a comment on this post!   Examples:  mulch leaves, use vinegar on weeds instead of chemicals, use natural cleaning products in home, etc.!

Using a random number generator on March 23rd at 12 midnight EST, one lucky ‘GREEN’ Hoe will select one Green Hoe™ product below from our Boutique! The Winner will be announced March 24th at 9:00 a.m. EST!

Happy ‘GREEN’ Hoeing, Friends!

 

May all your gardens grow,

178 thoughts on “A Green Hoe™ Give-Away

  • By LeeAnne Rossio - Reply

    We just hooked our rain barrels up for year 4 of garden/ flower watering. Saves on my water bill and the flowers love it. I also share with my neighbors, because I would probably never use both 55 gallon barrels of water before it rains and refills. Saving cash for neighbors- priceless!

  • By Riza Saylor - Reply

    I have so many, how do you choose one?
    Vinegar to kill weeds on the patio.

  • By Linda White - Reply

    My favorite thing to do is recycle everything I can for the birds. Little bits of everything for there nests !

  • By Janeen B. - Reply

    Our favorite green practice is to give all of our food scraps to our chickens.They enjoy the bits of tasty morsels, and we get eggs! Its a wonderful exchange, and a much better thing to do with food scraps than to put them in the trash bin!

  • By Sandy Long - Reply

    My garden is edged with cinder blocks that have 2 holes in them. I put all my ground up kitchen scraps in the holes to rot down, and plant marigolds in all the holes. Not only do they make the “wall: look pretty, the marigolds help keep the bugs out of the garden!

  • By Marlene Conger - Reply

    I use baking soda for a lot of my house cleaning

  • By Linda Ventimiglia - Reply

    Love your website. would love to win that green bag & towel1

  • By Celia Cawthon - Reply

    We cleaned out the attic over the garage today and found an old cap that had sealed off the chimney years ago. It was a galvanized steel box-like thing about 14″ square. Instead of trashing it, I decided to plant a succulent garden in it to go with all the other galvanized steel and barnwood party room out on the back patio! Here in sooooouuuuuth Texas my Chinese poppies are already getting ready to bloom, so our winter lasted about 13 days this year, and no snow.

  • By Pam Maguire - Reply

    One thing my husband & I are hoping to do this summer is to equip our cistern with a new pump so we can use rain water run-off from our house to water the lawn and garden.

  • By Susan Hemann - Reply

    Hello, what fun! Not sure if it’s eco friendly, but I take dying flowers, leaves, bark and nuts and use them to dye fabric. I only use vinegar and soy milk to dye with, no haz. chems. I save my coffee grounds for my flowering shrubs and to ward off slugs.

  • By bev - Reply

    I have a compost pile – literally just a pile; I don’t mess about with temperature requirements, etc. If you leave it there long enough, it does rot eventually!

  • By susan burwash - Reply

    My favorite thing is to re-use anything i can. composting and mulching to reduce the weeds so its easier. newspapers to slow growing weeds as well as vinegar to kill the ones i cant get at. Alot of coffee grinds are used as well as the ash from the wood stove.

  • By Pat Hoffert - Reply

    I am a spinner, and while spinning my yarn, I have leftover nubbies. I don’t throw them away – I alternate putting them in the yard for the birds to feather their nests, and saving a bunch and putting them in a pillowcase to was in hot water, and felt into a cat bed for the cat rescues that my husband makes cat beds for (to auction off and make $$$$).

  • By Nancy Derouen - Reply

    Recycle and reuse. Cuts down on garbage and can be really fun creatively.

  • By Karlee Thompson - Reply

    buy an extra set of outdoor solar lights. bring them in at night and set them in hanging plants or any plant to light up a room ot corner that doesn’t need much lighting ~ just needs abit… brings a nice glow to an otherwise dark place.

  • By Irene Alleman - Reply

    For polishing brass and copper, my Mother taught me to use vinegar and salt.

  • By Deb Tucker - Reply

    Coffee grounds to sweeten the soil!

  • By Jane - Reply

    I use vinegar multiple ways besides in my salads.

  • By Nancy A Nash Coleman - Reply

    My fave tip is to use a spray bottle filled with water & a few drops of regular dish soap … the kind for handwashing … like Dawn or Joy or Palmolive … NOT dishwasher detergent(!). Spray heavily on any plants showing signs of aphids. Let sit awhile & then rinse off with a gentle hose spray … do not use the soapy spray when the sun is shining on the plant … the combo of the sun / soap can burn the leaves. This is so simple & safe & it works! 🙂

  • By Leslie Rodrigue - Reply

    I would say a great way for me to water my plants inside is to use the water out of my fish tank. I have to clean it once a month and it helps my plants…. The vinegar is a great way to rid the weeds….

  • By Sherri Morris - Reply

    Using egg cartons to start seedlings and planting the whole carton when big enough 🙂

  • By Debbie Clark - Reply

    We have goats, pigs, cows & chickens, so none of our food scrapes go in the garbage. Everything goes to the animals. We also have a compost bin that is used year round.

  • By kathy zeller - Reply

    I hand pull weeds (good exercise), don’t use a bagger when I mow, don’t use chemicals, mulch with good decomposing mulch, and catch rainwater for future day’s water, let the bats eat the mosquitoes and welcome bees, butterflys, and snakes.. however I do not feed the squirrels!! they’re too pesky!!

  • By Pat Bennett - Reply

    I save the big plastic coffee containers for kitchen scraps, & store it under the sink until it’s full. I even tear up used paper towels into the scraps, coffee filters too. The snap-tight lids lock in any odors. I shred trash bags full of newspaper, then mix in the kitchen scraps. After piling it up in the garden, it makes rich compost in no time.

  • By Rhonda Cunningham-Phillips - Reply

    My biggest pet peeve is, filling up the landfills with all those drink cups from everywhere. I always bring my own to go refillable cup, or drink containers. We all need to cut down on waste.

  • By Mary Lewis - Reply

    I spray fish foliar fertilizer on plants to protect and prevent spider mites and aphids. I take care of over wintering plants in our school’s solarium, and this is the only way to not have an infestation by spring.

  • By Kelley - Reply

    We recycle our newspapers and cardboard boxes as weed mat before putting down mulch

  • By Pamela - Reply

    We use 1/2 egg shells as pots to start seedlings.

  • By June Schall - Reply

    Use news paper around base of tomatoes and top off with grass clippings to keep soil moist and weeds down.

  • By Laurie Wanat - Reply

    I’m an avid curbside shopper. I believe that being able to recycle other peoples’ cast-offs into planters, garden art, etc., is one of the greenest things I can do.

  • By Rhonda Harmon - Reply

    Instead of putting fertilizer, at the end of each planting season we plow under the vines and stalks and plant winter rye and it fertilizes the ground without having to use mulch. We also put coffeegrounds, especially around tomatoes, in the ground. Instead of spraying the corn to keep the worms out of it, as soon as the corn tops and starts silking we put mineral oil on each stalk and we have no problems with insects on the corn.

  • By Jan Speer - Reply

    We made a ‘bird patio’ off our second story dining window including small tree branches; it catches the seeds from multiple feeders, eliminating much of the ground mess and wild seed sprouting. We get endless enjoyment seeing the birds come and go with the seasons, whilst it is a bit frustrating for our cats 🙂
    Love your website@!

  • By Mary Devereaux - Reply

    I’ve started a garden stakes/back-wallgardem project using discarded porch verticals (3′ posts) and leftover exterior paint. I scrub the dirt & chipping paint off the used posts, repaint and then decorate them further with designs. Nothing new was purchased for this practical garden art!

  • By Edie Marie Delzer - Reply

    I use a lot of recycled products….as planters, bird baths, etc…..even used recycled picket fencing for my vegetable garden. 🙂

  • By WendyJ - Reply

    We compost almost more than gets put in the garbage, especially during jam-making season. We use a 70 litre rollable container for the composting, then dump it into a bathtub for a final mix and sort before the compost goes in the garden.
    Dried leaves, newspapers, lint from the clothes dryer all get added to keep the worms happily munching away 🙂

  • By Therese Lussier - Reply

    We have a rain barrel for watering the flowers . They love warm water to the freezing well water. We also have a compost pile in the back for all our kitchen “scaps” that turns to fertilizer over time. We return our empty egg cartons to the farm , they reuse them. We use the plastic grocery bags from the store to serve as liners for the garbage cans. I write the names of my zillion flowers on rocks with a paint stick and place the rock near the plant to remember the names. We use the empty pellet bags ( we have a pellet stove) as receptacle for garbage . We recyle ALL cans , boxes , newspaper etc. to our Town recycle bins.

  • By Kristine Milka - Reply

    As soon as the weather is pretty I start to use my clothes line. It is awesome on so many levels, saves on buying energy, while increasing my personal energy by getting rid of the winter ‘blahhhs’.

  • By Diane Kidman - Reply

    I can’t stand it when the rabbits eat my tulips! So when they first start emerging from the ground (the tulips, not the rabbits), I sprinkle them with cayenne powder. I’d love to see those bunnies hop after a bite of spicy tulip surprise! One dose and the offenders do NOT return for a second helping.

  • By Ellen - Reply

    To keep bugs away from garden plants – plant rue, horehound, basil, parsley, marigolds, artesmia or lemon balm

  • By Michelle Swanson - Reply

    Using my recycled plastic butter tubs, fill 3/4 full of cheap beer, sink into the ground near shady leafy plants (Hosta) to get rid of slugs.

  • By Alisa Heydon - Reply

    We try to reuse/recycle as much as we can so there are so many things ‘green’ we do but here’s a few: used dryer sheets to clean inside of car windows, newspaper and vinegar and water in old spray bottle to clean windows and mirrors, left overs in empty plastic containers, bird toys out of pop bottle caps, summer illuminaries out of either tin cans with holes punched in them, or painted plastic bottles, quilts-purses-baby blankets-stuffed animals (list is endless) made from ‘recycled’ clothing, white vinegar, baking soda and some essential oils make up our ‘cleaners’, netting from fruits, etc incorporated in artwork, old discarded canvas ‘ugly’ pictures repainted for wall art, and on and on and on…:)

  • By Lisa Michels - Reply

    My Husband takes all the ashes from our wood burner and puts them in the garden and tills them in when it’s time to start planting.

  • By Morella Ann Bareham - Reply

    Happy Saint Patricks Day!
    Leftover diluted coffee is a great source of nitrogen for watering house plants, or during the growing season to step out the door and treat your flowers, herbs, or vegetables to the brew. I’ve never lost any plant to my morning coffee! :)Morella

  • By Clare Skeen - Reply

    I use the leftover water from my salad spinner to water my container plantings. Better use than pouring it down the drain.

  • By Donna Helmes - Reply

    I compost all my veggies, bread, eggs, lawn trimmings and leaves.

  • By Penny Swing - Reply

    I use vinegar and water to clean the Kitchen, bathrooms, etc., and I add a couple of drops of essential oil in the spray bottle with the vinegar and water. Just shake it up well and start cleaning. This way the house smells like my favorite essential oil instead of vinegar.

  • By Denise Shepherd - Reply

    We have an enamel dish pan in the sink and I use that to water my potted plants. I also give the birds and squirrels old bread and chips. We compost as well. We recycle cardboard and use the plastic bags from the grocery store in our small garbage pails. I am a crafter so I recycle magazines and catalogs for envelopes and collages.

  • By ELENE CROW - Reply

    BAKING SODA WITH WATER SPRAYED ON SOIL AROUND TOMOTOES PLANTS KEEPS AWAY MANY DISEASES
    PASS DOWN FROM THE OLE FOLKS

  • By Carrie Carey - Reply

    cornmeal to kill ants. Coffee grounds in my compost pile.

  • By Laura Lyon Mackiewicz - Reply

    We use llama beans (llama manure) and llama bean tea as our fertilizer. The beans can be added straight to the garden bed as it will not burn and then, of course, it composts adding more soil to the beds. The llama bean tea is a great natural fertilizer for potted plants,

  • By Linda Prosser - Reply

    I throw all my vegetable scraps in the flower beds all year long. Makes the soil super rich.

  • By June Preston See - Reply

    Use composting bucket with biodegradable bags for fruit & vegetable scraps, then add to compost area. Add coffee grounds to flower beds key use natural products & Seventh Generation products. Toss overripe apples into woods for deer.

  • By Kelly Goralski - Reply

    I like to use the Ultimate Cloth to clean my windows. Chemical free and no streaks! Can’t beat it!

  • By Sandi Pease - Reply

    We use vinegar in a spray bottle to clean everything including vegetabes as well as disinfect the counters, sinks, whatever.

  • By Melanie Raines - Reply

    My home’s in Montana; I wear a bandana;…. and we receive less than 10″ of precip each year. I mulch EVERYTHING I grow!! newspaper, cardboard;
    (a worm’s favorite food!)wood chips, manure, grass clippings,etc. if I can layer it on and keep the wind from moving it, it’s lasagne style all the way!!

  • By Georgianna English - Reply

    When I first moved to Florida I didn’t have any recycling bins. So I called the local chamber of commerce to find out where to call. I now have my recycle bins and recycle everything they will take!!!!!

    I have to tell you ladies I absolutely LOVE your site and no I am not Smooching to win 🙂

  • By Linda L - Reply

    I love using water and vinegar in a spray bottle for my windows and sliding door. I use baking soda to clean my glass top stove.

  • By Pamela Brew - Reply

    I do not use paper towels to wipe windows…use old flannel material and wash with our towels.

    I make my own baby wipes…re-use a store bought empty baby wipe container. Unroll and fold, back and forth 1 roll of paper towels. Do not separate them. Mix 1c. water, 1 tblspn baby oil and 1 tblspn baby shampoo in the empty wipe container. Now cut your folded paper towel in half, through all thicknesses. Put folded half in the container and save the other half for the next batch. You want to cut the paper towel so that both halves are continous. Paper towel is much cheaper to buy than wipes, plus you do not have any perfumes or unwanted chemicals touching your baby.

    Compost bin is always in use…don’t forget to add your used coffee grounds!

  • By Jamie - Reply

    I use found materials to build items to add to our permaculture layout!

  • By Lisa Humphreys - Reply

    I make my own scrub cleaner our of borax, soda, and vinegar. Add a few drops of almond oil and rosemary and thyme ils and you have a great green cleaner!

  • By Kathleen Reynolds - Reply

    You name it and I probably do it!..never bag lawn clippings, compost, beer bait for slugs, borax for ants, fireplace ash gets dug into the soil or put around plants to deter slugs, everything in my house is second hand including my animals (all rescued) & my husband :))

  • By Mary Brown - Reply

    When I clean our brushes (people and pet), I put the hair/fur out on the patio for the birds. They love it for their nests…

  • By Susan - Reply

    I paint old wood chairs bright tropical colors and place them in the garden.

  • By Regina Fischer - Reply

    Save water off of vegetables when I cook and also my un-greasy dishwater to use to water plants. Salt on asparagus kills the weeds and feeds the asparagus.

  • By Karen Geiger - Reply

    I keep a plastic pail with a tight lid under the sink. All veg and fruit scraps go into it for compost. Also garden waste, dry grass,dry leaves.coffee grounds with filters, tea bags, etc. are used. Composting the scraps saves using the expensive rural water to wash them down the disposal and makes excellent food for the flowers! We also spread the ashes from the stove on flower beds.

  • By Megan Coomer - Reply

    I sprinkle about a tablespoon of table salt on our carpets weekly after I vacuum. It crystallizes any flea eggs that may have been laid and kills adult fleas. Last summer, it was a bad year and I hear this summer will be just as bad since it didn’t get super cold to kill bugs off. I have pets and small children and don’t believe in chemicals that could hurt any of them.

  • By debbie dewey - Reply

    This year i am going to use the boxes that my husband’s insulin come in to be planter boxes. The box itself is sturdy. It comes with a Styrofoam box inside, that holds the insulin and a ‘blue freezie’. One comes every 3 weeks. i have been trying to come up with a way NOT to put them in the trash. I am going to wrap the boxes in fabric, or paint them, or ‘wrap’ them in gift wrap. I have 5 right now, by may i should have 2-3 more. can’t wait.

  • By Tonya Fennig - Reply

    Where to start….We have for years used old newspapers & grass clippings around the plants in our gardens. My husband is in the process of recycling 2 55 gal barrels into new rain barrels and 2 more into compost barrels. And of course we compost everything! We also make two trips a month to drop off recycle in our county. By doing that we make a lot less trips to the landfill, saves us money and saves the earth. P.S. just love your site 🙂

  • By Judy - Reply

    I recycle faithfully, compost and reuse lots of items for gardening and art. Love your website!

  • By Pam Assemany - Reply

    Instead of bug spray I use Eucalyptus oil on cotton balls in the corners of our basementto keep the spiders away!!!

  • By Penny Ward - Reply

    I no longer use insecticides of any kind. I plant flowers that attract butterflies and bees. I no longer cut back my perennials in the fall so the birds have some shelter when they come to my feeders.

  • By Dot - Reply

    While cleaning out the garage and back storage room…I began a box of “bits and pieces” to pull from when creating my one of kind YARD ART….funny birds, signs and such. (Normally things thrown in the trash!!!) USE YOUR IMAGINATION…IT IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE!!! 😉

  • By Kelly Guerin - Reply

    I use eggshells and coffee grounds in my garden!! 🙂

  • By Laurie - Reply

    I have a giant (85 gal) rain barrel to help w/watering the flowers and veggies and I also compost. Thanks for a chance to win 🙂 laurie

  • By Karyn - Reply

    I use A LOT of green practices, but my favorite was passed on to me by my Grandfather (who I never met) who was a very Green gardener back in the 30-40’s. I use newspapers in my veggie garden around the bases of my plants. Keeps weeds down, helps retain moisture and worms love it. I use it around everything in the veggie garden. And I use them on new flower beds under mulch – never had to “round-up” a single blade of grass! And this year – I have earthworms the size of my forearm! They eat well around here!

  • By Janet Plymire - Reply

    Recycle newspapers by using several layers beneath mulch.
    Catching rain water in barrels to use for watering garden plants.
    Dividing plants and swapping with friends is a fun way to get different plants.

  • By sandi - Reply

    Hmm, I try to do as much as I can, I have a compost pile, I use the eggshells and coffee grounds in my garden, recycle newspaper in the garden, oh drats, hope I am not disqualified by saying more than one. I try to do what I can, but I know it’s still not enough!

  • By Candi - Reply

    We use a lot of green practices but I guess one of my favorites is using vinegar for weed control.

  • By gail kent - Reply

    I recycle everything that I can-I compost-I reuse as much as I can-I would love to see everyone recycle and help make the world greener-thank you

  • By Glynda DeVore - Reply

    I recycle all my plastic containers, aluminum cans, and glass bottles. I save my plastic bags for the girls at the thrift store. Love to shop at goodwill and thrift stores, and donate clothes to goodwill. My husband built a watering system with pvc pipe that runs under each row of our garden to water plants. This conserves on the amount of water used and also waters the plant roots directly. Love your site, and I have learned a lot.

    Thanks, Glynda

  • By Betsy Hamilton - Reply

    We have a recyclables craft tub in our hall closet… Our favorite creations begin there!

  • By Anna - Reply

    Hmm favorite green tip. Compost is everything. I will be cutting a cutting a whole in the bottom of a bucket and putting a lid on it. Then this is goin into my raised beds to dump my compost into. The worms will feed on the compost and then go forth to fertilize my bed. Happy happy, joy joy. 🙂

  • By Barb - Reply

    Wow, all these great ideas which I use most of myself. My favorite cleaning products is from Melaleuca. I have not heard of using fireplace ashes but will certainly try that. I have used coffee grounds for my rose bushes, they love it. This year we will do the rain barrel for our watering of vegetable garden. Love this site. Thank you so much for the wonderful ideas. Can’t wait for spring to get here. I’m in Oregon so right now, nothing but rain and a bit of sun popping out now and then.

  • By Judy Manning - Reply

    We have a small organic farm and therefore recycle and compost. I use boiling water on ant hills. When I do haircuts, I put the hair and any knitting scraps I have in a container outside for the birds to use in their nests. When I make cheese, I use the whey instead of water to make bread. I use coffee grounds, potato peels, egg shells, etc. in my flower beds and occasionally flush coffee grounds down the sink to help the septic tank do it’s job.

  • By Allison Fraker - Reply

    Ask Starbucks for coffee grounds — use them in the compost bin for the soil.

  • By Marry Morrow - Reply

    Instead of purchasing new pots for starter seeds, I kept all the plastic pop bottles, cut the top out and used the rest for soil and seeds, they actually look pretty in the windowsill . Once the plants go in the ground, I will use the container for bulb storage.

  • By Tiffany Steers - Reply

    I like to use a diluted solution of Dawn dish washing liquid and water to help with mildewy residue on leaves and foliage. It often helps! Love your blog and have passed it on to many of my gal pal gardeners! Hope I am lucky! Tiffany

  • By Kellene Manville - Reply

    Hi! One thing we do is save/collect recyclable items which helps the environment AND helps a couple charitable organizations provide services to people with cancer and end-stage renal failure. 1) We collect/save aluminum tabs from all types of drink cans and give them to an organization to raise money to pay for chemotherapy for people who otherwise could not afford it. 2)We do the same with plastic caps from many types of containers like milk, juice, drink bottles and give them to an organization that uses them to raise money to pay for hemodialysis treatments (so many lbs = so many hours of hemodialysis). It feels really good to help people directly while we are also helping the environment.

  • By Denise - Reply

    watering can with hole in bottom instead of throwing out potting mix and couple of cuttings looks great

  • By Alice Haataja - Reply

    I’ve been composting for 20+ years. Everything that can goes into the compost pile.

  • By patricia shea.samul - Reply

    We’re trying really hard here. Shut off water when brushing teeth. Started a garden this year for my vegetables. Collecting rain water to water the garden. Recycling amap…reusing what I can. Buying less. Bought a surge protector that has a remote and only 2 plugs out of 6 that are always on. The rest shut off with a press of the remote so my electronics do not draw unecessary energy.

  • By Gayle Stafford - Reply

    I plant my seed in the greenhouse using old wooden boxes, plastic cups (that come from an Easter egg coloring kit-3 yrs ago), bathroom cups (bought at a yard sale for 10 cents for a box of 100), old pots & cell packs that bedding plants come in, yogurt cups and use an old fish tank for rose cuttings. All watered with rain water caught in big tubs behind the greenhouse.

  • By Gayle Stafford - Reply

    I meant to add that everything is labeled with old cut up window blinds. Pencil or sharpie works good.

  • By brenda welch - Reply

    Lots of great tips here!!!
    I like to reduce, recycle and reuse lots of things that others trash, AND provide as many ‘natural’ and ‘organic’ products for those that choose not to ‘make their own’
    Always believe in using ‘old fashioned’ and ‘proven’ goods that are environmentally safe and help to protect the earths depleting zones, I try to help others that are unfamiliar with these – in hopes that I can help or offer a suggestion to the things they need AND want!!

  • By Carisa Thurman - Reply

    Before we throw anything away (plastic jugs, old silverware, shoeboxes, newspapers, etc) we try to come up with a way to reuse it!! We shred old newspapers for compost, plastic jugs for birdhouses, planters,etc.,old silverware for wind chimes or garden markers, shoeboxes are great for storage or for operation Valentine’s Day (decorate a box for Valentine’s Day and donate to a local school for a child who does not have one)…if we all look at things as something it could be our planet would be a cleaner place!!

  • By Amy Pike - Reply

    Started vermicomposting in a plastic bin. Uses up kitchen scraps and hopefully will get worm castings for garden.

  • By Barb Roland - Reply

    I’m using wooden pallets as my compost bins, which by the way are going to need to be replaced soon with more old pallets. But I guess my favorite was taking a twin box springs, ripping the cloth off and using the frame as a watermelon bed, this year it’s growing thornless blackberries.

  • By Susan Cox - Reply

    I do use leaves and shredded paper in my garden and till it in. Also use food scraps that I save, go to the garden, dig a hole and then cover them up with soil in random areas.

  • By Deb Lyons - Reply

    I just bought and used a quilt batting that is made 100% from recycled plastic bottles.

  • By Jennifer Allen - Reply

    I always use natural cleaners as much as possible around the house. Vinegar and baking soda. I also use vinegar on the weeds in the garden, just don’t get it on some of the leaves on the plants it can leave brown spots especially in really hot weather. Vinegar is a really good ant deterant. I always start my own seeds in the house in early March so I know that what is being sprayed or put into the soil of them. Hope this is helpful to all. Thanks.

    Jennifer

  • By Lynn Langley - Reply

    I save coffee grounds and washed egg shells and spread in my garden weekly. during the summer months, I collect the used grounds from my favorite espresso stand and add those as well to my gardens, it has improved my flower performance tremdously!

  • By Mary Pitts - Reply

    Well I guess I have was green before it became COOL to be green. I hang out wash all year long, Have a compost pile for my garden, what cant go in there goes into my chickens. I save cans for everything (candles, scoops, planters) Clothes that can’t be worn any more are either used for quilts or rags. I can or freeze everything out of our garden and make our own jellies. POOR people have always been GREEN.

  • By Amy Noel - Reply

    Good for us and the earth, we stay away from dyes in food and household products etc. my favorite new thing is baking soda and vinegar to clean slow drains. And the kid in me still likes the fizzy science experiment of it too 🙂

  • By Jane Chitty - Reply

    My garden hoe (which I have had for probably 40 years or more) is a great eco friendly tip. I Never use any kind of weed killer but rather gently hoe the ground between plants to help break up de-composing matter, eliminate weeds and generally keep the soil friable and looking good. So what better way to celebrate your green hoe than with an actual hoe tip!

  • By Jenny - Reply

    I like to use my skirted wool fleece as mulch in the garden, to water – drip irrigation is a must & what I don’t have ‘room’ for in the veggie garden…buy LOCAL!

  • By Deb - Reply

    Love your wesbite..I have used many of your ideas. Going to make the log flower planter out of an old tree of ours. Love it!!

  • By Cathy Brannan - Reply

    We re-use everything we can. Our veggie peelings and scraps go to the chickens, and we compost alot of things for the garden, we also use our tea and coffee to fertilize the flowers and bushes outside.

  • By wendy bush - Reply

    I like to use newspaper for mulch around my potatoes. I also use newspaper instead of garden fabric under wood chip mulch in my flower beds.

  • By Judy - Reply

    I am very lucky to be a member of our community organic gardens. We are fortunate to receive truckloads!!! of mulch and wood chips from our lovely city to use in our plots. Life is good!

  • By Meredith - Reply

    I have so many but vermicompost has got to be the most fun. My kids love ‘feeding’ the worms, turning the earth, seeing what new babies have been born and of course, chasing their baby sister with worms to make her squeal. It’s also made them a LOT more aware of composting than they were with just a bin outside, and much more aware of the life that is in the dirt while they are outside playing.

  • By Amy - Reply

    My family recycles as much as possible but my favorite is using toilet paper rolls for our garden starts. Quick easy and inexpensive

  • By LuAnn - Reply

    Recycle everything! We use coffee grounds to boost plant growth in the garden.

  • By Katherine d - Reply

    Every single planter I use is recycled from something from my house. I have fallen in love with thinking of new and creative ways to plant something else.

  • By Melinda Singer - Reply

    My favorite thing to do is line dry my clothes. As I live in Southern CA we have ample sunshine so I’m able to save energy by simply hanging up my laundry on a line to dry.

  • By Deb Bartlett - Reply

    `I live along the coast of New England and every fall after I have cleaned my garden and given it a good rotatilling I go down to the beach and collect sea weed and spread it on my garden about six inches deep and let it set over the winter. In the spring it is all dried out and I rotatill it into the garden. It makes the best fertilizer for the gardens it has all the nutrients the ground needs. It is a lot of labor but well worth it and it is free.

  • By Pat Pelland - Reply

    A long time practice has been to use baing soda and vinegar and sometimes lemon juice for cleaning. Non-toxic and effective.

  • By Sk Jo - Reply

    I have been using a Juicer. There is ALOT of great pulp left that I use for soups,baking, meatloaf, compost etc instead of throwing out BUT the most pleasurable use is I mix it in with my 2 Golden Retrievers dog food ~ they are sooooo healthy !

  • By Trudi - Reply

    After having gone vegetarian a few years ago, I decided that because there were few things I can’t compost, I should probably get in that! Now I have a great source of nutrients for my veggie garden!

  • By Maggie Drake - Reply

    My new favorite trick is making avocado skin dye for scarves and yarn. First we eat the guacamole, then I make the dye, the the pits and peels go into the compost pile.

  • By Ingemar Hulthage - Reply

    I’m big on kitchen composting. All vegetable and fruit kitchen waste gets composted along with egg shells and coffee grounds. We also mulch leaves and grass for further soil enhancement.

  • By Marie Churchill - Reply

    My dear mother always used vinegar for numerous household jobs. Now I know why! It really works, and it’s cheap! It’s wonderful for cleaning windows, and if you need to get grease smears off your stove, it works wonders! I also use vinegar for our rinse cycle in the washing machine. When we had our annual washer/dryer check-ups recently, the tech showed us how liquid fabric softener has left a build-up in our washer. He suggested vinegar, since it’s great as a softener — especially for towels — and it also keeps the wash machine clean at the same time! It’s a win-win product! Thanks, MOM! YOU ROCK!

  • By connie - Reply

    we decided this year to use pine needles for much instead of black recycled wood mulch. we have a mound that requires over 16 yards of mulch. Using the pine needles cut our total project down to less that $75. And besides, it looks much more natural than the black mulch which fades away every summer. we discovered this savings while traveling in the south alot last summer. Nobody in the south uses mulch very much. My daffodils and tulip colors are much brighter with the pine needles too. And it helps keep the weeds to a minimum.

  • By Karen - Reply

    We put in a geothermal unit when we built our house in 2001…and I just got a compost bin for my birthday this past week. We also repurpose everything. Well…ALMOST everything. 🙂 ktmixon315

  • By Lea Bessler - Reply

    My husband wants to try the hugelkultur technique for one of our garden beds. It’s basically a compost pile with woody material at the base that you plant in. The decaying wood is wonderful for nutrients and holding in moisture.
    http://kerryg.hubpages.com/hub/Hugelkultur-Using-Woody-Waste-in-Composting

  • By Linda - Reply

    We compost our produce kitchen waste. We also have a vegetable garden & fruit trees. The water we use to wash fruit & veggies is used to water plants on our patio.

  • By Barbara Johnson - Reply

    When tree companies are cutting in my area with their chipper trucks full of that wonderful mulch, I ask them to dump them on the back of my property. They are happy to do this- and at no cost to me. After about 6 months, it has rotted and filled with earthworms. My back yard slopes and is shaded with a lot of trees. I used about 3 truckloads of this mulch to cover the entire backyard. Stops erosion, keeps weeds down, and conserves moisture. I also use the rotted mulch to dress all of my flower and vegetable beds.

  • By Jesse M - Reply

    I use all of our leftover kitchen scraps and more to make beautiful compost to use in my garden!!

  • By Carollee - Reply

    The donkeys line up at my greenhouse fence line waiting for all the weed and dead plant treats I can throw. The chickens get all the kitchen vegetable waste and the dogs love meat scraps and broth. Nothing goes to waste here.

  • By Sue Roberts - Reply

    Add worms to my garden beds to aerate soil. Always good to have them available for fishing too 😉 !

  • By Peggy - Reply

    I rake all the oak leaves and haul to the garden to mulch my tomato plants.

  • By Nanette Hicks - Reply

    My most favorite is collecting coffee grounds from Starbucks & friends and mixing them in with my compost to feed my worms who in turn make lovely dirt for their flower friends.

  • By kristina - Reply

    Diatomaceous Earth is the best thing I have found by far for a ton of things. The best sure way to get rid of ants is to put a line of the food grade (DE) on window sills , under cupboards, etc. I use it on my gardening also. That and lady bugs are all I need for a successful garden. This stuff is safe for pets and kids also.

  • By Judy Fairlamb - Reply

    We installed a rain barrel a couple years ago, and use rain water as much as possible for watering.

  • By Joan - Reply

    Years ago my daughter got caught with a rabbit in her dorm room. Good old Mom and Dad paid the $200 fine and found themselves “fostering” Dixie the bunny. We are animal lovers and could not find a home for her with someone we trusted. So six years later we are still the proud owners of Dixie. Welllll we started composting again and lo and behold discovered how GOOD rabbit manure and the right bedding can be for the compost!!! Dixie has a new place in my husband’s heart (LOL) and no more grumbling when he has to clean the cage! He’s all about Dixie now! So we rescued a rabbit and our garden and flowers are going to look fantastic this year. Long live Dixie!

  • By Lydia Garza - Reply

    We installed a water collection system using plastic containers and a small gutter. We also collect all of our neighbors’ leaves. They think we are doing them a favor by taking all their leaves!! In our drought-stricken area, we can use all the help we can get. We also collect and compost all our vegetable clippings, coffee grounds and egg shells! We don’t need to fertilize our garden, just use compost on it! This year we are growing tomatoes, peppers, onions, zuchinni, summer squash, strawberries and cucumbers. We also have some fruit trees, including figs, peaches, plums, chinese plums and pomegranates.

  • By Renee Flynn - Reply

    Compost! Recycle and use many of the ideas posted here!

  • By BJ Martinez - Reply

    I’ve done a few things to be eco friendly. 1) I pulled out all my grass in my front yard and back yard and put down bark dust to reduce the amount of water being used on my yard. The yard looks pretty good; the neighbors were worried at first, but once they saw the plan, they were happy, including me. So no more mowing, no more watering the water sucking grass. Yay. 2) Put in a drip system to water my drought tolerant plants and shrubs to put water only where it is needed. Works like a charm. 3) And this next one is the toughy. I no longer use chemicals to kill the unwanted weeds. I use the “manual” method. Yes, I’m out their rain or shine, and manually pulling weeds. It’s not easy or fun, but I have to promise to keep up with it or it’ll get out of control. Bark dust really helps, too. Haven’t done the water barrels yet, but that’s next.

  • By Deb. Mathenia - Reply

    We also use a lot of the ideas previously posted. Scraps either go to the dogs, stray cats, or the birds. Recycling and re-purposing is done religiously here. Just ran an ad to try to get other people’s reusable ‘stuff’, so it does not go to the landfills – hopefully we get a LOT of goodies 🙂 . I, too, am a BIG fan of learning from you!

  • By Jean Carpenter - Reply

    We recycle EVERYHING. My favorite is using the cardboard after the toilet and paper towel rolls run out for storing my bindings, lace, etc for quilting and using old towels as “batting” for the kitchen and bath rugs I create. For my gardens, I use old prescription bottles to store seeds for next years planting.

  • By Christian Peachey-Travis - Reply

    Instead of using chemicals to fertilize our flowers, garden, and yard, we use used coffee grounds. We just sprinkle them in a different spot every couple of days. If we don’t have enough grounds, we go to local coffee shops and they are more than willing to give us theirs. The best part is they are in little round pucks from the expresso machine which makes them easier to spread!

  • By Leeann Arcand - Reply

    I use no fertilizer in my garden. I love my compost pile. I put all kitchen scraps in there from coffee grounds to banana peelings, apple cores, grass clippings & leaves – I am amazed how fast stuff breaks down! Those worms are such hard workers, too!
    We recycle everything, too, & take it to the recycle center – paper, cans, plastic (including bags).
    I use white vinegar to clean (love it).
    I put out snips of yarn for the birds to use for their nests.
    I use the reusable canvas bags when grocery shopping.

  • By Trish Simpson - Reply

    Plastic soda – juice bottles – gallon milk jugs make great cloches. Can be used as incubators, temporary weather protectors or for newly sprouted plants that nocturnal animals might enjoy! Ventilation is built in by removing the caps. In cold weather put them back on at night. Clear salad containers work well also – poke holes in them for ventilation!

  • By Noelle - Reply

    to get rid of snails: use a thrush and a stone.

  • By Tom M (@SolakNC) - Reply

    We reuse as much plastic as we can before recycling… meat/dinner trays to hold seed cell packs, Red Solo Cups for seedlings, kitty litter containers for larger plants, or even root crops like carrots. Lots of good ideas in all the above comments! Thanks for the contest, and good luck, everyone!

  • By Inishindie - Reply

    Oh crumbs- Burnt toast put into training shoes overnight rids them of any smells.

  • By Lisa S. - Reply

    This is the time of year when all animals are shedding. I put the hair on top of fence posts or on branches for the birds to pick up and line their nests with. They especially like my horses hair. I have collected horsehair nests that have fallen out of the trees.

  • By Amanda Petrucci - Reply

    My green tip to do is lay wet newspaper down over the grassy area that i want to plant on or remove grass on. It only takes a few days and you can mulch over it.

  • By Echo Arnett - Reply

    To extend the life of your onions, put them in the legs of your old nylon stockings with a knot tied between each. Makes your garden’s onions last longer and recycles your hose!

  • By Tammy Willaimson - Reply

    I strive not to purchase new garden containers. I reuse plastic pots, repurpose kitchen containers, swipe kiddie toys, search yard sales, scan trash piles…you name it. I think reusing is a great way to keep things out of the landfill and save money for more important things like seeds….ahhh, seeds!

  • By Loretta Sewak - Reply

    I am down to one garbage bag a week for trash. Everything else is composted, treats for my chickens:)

  • By Lisa Fay - Reply

    Wow, so many things you can use. Newspaper as a weed barrier, paper pots for seedlings. Banana peels as fertilizer for roses, I heard they help with aphids also. I get big bags of spent coffee grounds for free from a coffee shop (it is big chain)that I use on all my acid loving plants like Camellia’s and Azaleas. They are more than happy to have you take them off of your hands. Of course, I keep EVERY pot I get with new plants so that I can use them to share my divisions with the neighbors. Lots of ways to recycle and be frugal! I LOVE the ideas on your blog! Thanks for sharing!

  • By Anne Hagsten - Reply

    Don’t let the water run while brushing your teeth. Thousands of gallons of clean water is wasted every day. Wash and save the styrofoam meat trays your meat is packaged on they make great trays to put under your plants. Refuse plastic at the grocery store. Bring your own cloth bags. if you forget them.. remember to toss them into the front seat of the car after you put away your groceries. Better yet do like I do and keep extras in all your vehicles. If I forget them in the car I still refuse the bag and pack the stuff when I get to the car.

  • By raven - Reply

    My husband and I have re-routed the grey-water from our sinks to outside planter boxes. It was easy and a great way to re-use water. It also reminds us to use eco friendly soap each time.

  • By Carla Schreiber - Reply

    We have another “green” use for old pantyhose. We use them to tie up limbs, long clippings, branches, etc. for big-trash pick up. They are great because they stretch to fit your bundle! Just tie a knot by the foot sections and you are done!

  • By Tera Fitzgerald - Reply

    Instead of dryer sheets, try a washcloth with a few drops of your favorite essential oil–it will smell nicer, and be more eco-friendly.

  • By Louise Yunck - Reply

    As many here do, I love to use thrift store, habitat for humanity, garage sale and tree lawn finds to make stuff both inside and outside my house. I have terra cotta foundation blocks from Habitat for Humanity as edgers in my garden path. I hope to make a small garden shed out of old door one day.
    Less for the landfill!!

  • By fran gatwood - Reply

    I like to use the water feom boiling eggs to water the garden. Its full of nutrients that give the garden a wonderful boost! 😉

  • By Kim Phillips - Reply

    I like to use a thickness of newspapers around non-food plants to block weeds. Just pile the mulch on top, and the newspaper will compost in place. Yes, there is ink on the newsprint, but most printers use water-based ink nowadays, so it’s cool.

  • By MJ Petersen - Reply

    For slug control I use beer which isn’t any news, but I pour it in my discarded eggshell halves that I have placed in dirt. That way I can just leave dead slugs in and let biodegrade into soil with eggshell. I just keep refilling with beer as needed. I put near tomato, lettuce, & green beans which is where I had slug issues, solved.

  • By Jenny Gourley - Reply

    Put cinnamon on tiny pea ants that like to live around and under the sidewalks or carport/house.

  • By Patty Watson Pulignano - Reply

    My favorite color would have to be Dark Purple Iris. although I like all the colors.

  • By angie - Reply

    Red!

  • By yvonne blauvelt - Reply

    All I need to know about gardening I learned from my Mother (who learned from her Mother who immigrated from Czechoslovakia). I compost everything from egg shells, vegetable peels, weeds, products of my sod-busting (I live in Ohio). I use soapy water from washing dishes or clothes (by hand or in a wringer washer) to wash bugs off vegetables. I interplant herbs, vegetables and flowers to ward off vegetables. Red pepper keeps critters away from vegetables and flowers. I rake up the pine needles from my trees to keep up my path in my moss garden. Old tested gardening is best.

  • By MARIE DAMATO - Reply

    After cutting down on pesticides, I serve breakfast of COFFEE GROUNDS to my azaleas,camelias,& acid preferring plants (but no muffins or bagels):)This seems to be effective especially for scales on my cycad sago palm.

  • By donnalee - Reply

    Being from Minnesota, Spring makes it much easier to mow the grass.

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