What do you do??

For youor bit for helping the environment??

We-

*grow our own herbs, and some veges
* have a worm farm for scraps
* empty all water bottles, cooled boiled water etc onto plants instead of down the drain
*use reusable shopping bags
*walk wherever possible [good that we can walk to shops- they are close]
*changed all globes to lower wattage
*cloth nappies ONLY

ummm, not sure what else

I would love to reduce my carbon footprint more.....

I use reusable shopping bags - havent walked out of a shop with a plastic one for ages
We have low wattage green globes in our house and only have ones on that we need - usually one at night
We don't have air con and take advantage of the sea breeze
I recycle everything - even the little tin foil lids from the kids yogos
I dont use paper towels unless really desperate - I use microfibre clothes
I wash once a week and fill the machine to the brim
We have a worm farm and grow strawberrys and chillies
I take friends hand me down clothes
I shop once a fortnight and plan out meals so that there is no wastage

When the kids were in nappies I only used cloth

WOW you ladies do so much! Good on you!

We don't have kerside recycling here so it makes it harder.

We recycle cans, bottles etc and coz we are in SA we get 10c for each one lol

I water the plants with the leftover water, we have ducks so they get all the scraps. Yogurt tubs, boxes etc are kept for craft for DD but when her basket is full they get thrown out.

I have tried to grow herbs and vegies here but the soil is just sand and no matter how much of anything we add it doesnt hold moisture and they heat is too much for them too. Basil grows well though, and chives. When we move I want to grow alot of vegies and all my herbs.

Hopefully DH will get around to hooking the grey water hose back up when we move too-we moved in here nearly 8 months ago and he still hasnt done it

The enjo thing is starting to call me I think-although I like the 'clean' smell too so I'm not sure yet. At the price of them it would be a gradual change anyway, might start with something small....

Ok! I need help!

We move next week and I need to learn a few things!

I have never lived somewhere that does kerbside recycling-what can you put in the recycle bin?

We are gonna get a couple of chooks for eggs

Putting in a veg & herb garden-whats the best fertiliser? do they have to be in riased beds or will grow ok in a normal garden bed (existing). Was going to grow: lettuce, cucumber, apple cucumber, capsicum, tomato, grape tomato, spring onions, red onions, carrots, broccoli-hmm what else? beetroot? potato-are they hard? anything else?

Basil, chives, parsley, coriander, rosemary, -what else?

Strawberries, maybe some fruit trees?

Now, Grey water-I will be using that-what laundry liquid or detergents are best? I personally love it when clothes have a scent when clean

I have to get used to water restrictions too-never had them before!

Any tips yoi can all give me will be much appreciated!

Recycling bin- states could be different, but in our state we can put

all plastics
all cardboard/paper products
all glass
all metal tins

you will get a thing that states when the bins will be collected, and that usually has a list of recycle-ables

ours is collected fortnightly, general rubbish weekly, which is a shame as our recycling is HUGE and we could really do with it collected weekly!! =(

Vegies- Im not sure about raised.... we did it in the general garden, but I do believe vegies do better in raised beds [watched a bit of BH&G and Burkes Backyard]
I always companion plant [ie basil with tomatoes] and love having herbs growing everywhere...

Chilies are a good one to plant, I have the purple ones at the moment,and um, mint? Kids love planting chocolate mint, cat grass is good for the dogs, garlic chives, par-cel, purple basil, thyme, oregano [Im always a disaster with oregano]

My staples are always thyme, mint, parsley, basil, rosemary, chives and tomatoes as I use them WEEKLY
I would recommend at least two of the ones you use alot- my poor chives and parsley haven't recovered yet from my last cooking!!!

Grey water and machines- I have never used GW in my machine, but Aware do a fantastic powder as well as the Eco brand [have to remember what its called]

Ill get Keebles to come in and let you know her success stories with vegies, and strawberries

Buy a couple of gardening style magazines- BH&G, Burkes Backyard etc... they have some great tips! =)