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There are a large number of ways you can be a more eco-friendly and environmentally conscious gardener, and this can help to save valuable resources and protect the wildlife in your local area.

Recycled Outdoor Furniture
Instead of buying outdoor furniture made from new materials, consider some of the excellent recycled options that are on offer, which have been produced from reused plastic, wood and metal. There are many companies making durable, waterproof and low maintenance outdoor furniture for both public and residential areas, so whether you need a park bench or a picnic table you should be able to find a low cost, eco-friendly recycled option from various companies.

Make Your Own Compost
Compost can add useful minerals and nutrients back into the soil, but it is also expensive and can be made from non-sustainable materials such as peat. You can easily make your own compost at home using garden waste and kitchen scraps, and to help speed up the process you can buy compost kits from your local gardening store (some are also available from local councils), which provide you with a compost bin and even worms to help breakdown the waste matter more quickly.

Grow Your Own Food
If you like to know how your food is grown and want to make sure pesticides and chemicals are not used in the process then you could try growing your own herbs, fruit and veg. There are some varieties that are very easy to grow, and will take in pots if you do not have enough space to set up a whole vegetable plot in your garden, and as long as you have a sunny, protected spot you should be able to grow things like broad beans, potatoes, carrots and tomatoes without too much fuss and bother. It is cheaper to grow your own vegetable from seeds, but if you are an inexperienced gardener, or do not have a lot of space available you may find it easier to visit the garden centre and spend a little bit more money on juvenile plants that are already well established.

Native Plants
Instead of buying expensive exotic plants for your garden do your local wildlife a favour by finding out which plants grow naturally in your area, and then include these in your overall garden design. There are some lovely native wildflowers and plants, and by growing them in your garden you can help to maintain habitats for all sorts of local wildlife from birds through to butterflies, and provide protected, safe areas for them to live and breed in.

When you go food shopping there are a number of choices available which can help you to buy more responsibly both towards the environment and to your local area.

Before you go shopping think about your main concerns, so if you want to support your local businesses then take a trip to your local shops and famers markets rather than using a big name supermarket, or if you are concerned about fair trade then you may prefer to shop at a supermarket as some chains can provide a large number of fair trade options which support international fair trade schemes around the world.

If you are interested in eco friendly farming methods then there are a number of organic and free range produce on offer from most good stores and local markets, which can help you to support more natural food production techniques.

You may not be able to shop completely green every time you go out to the shops, so don’t worry if sometimes you do need to pop to a big supermarket instead of the local shops, just as long as you are aware of more eco friendly shopping methods and put them into practise as often as you can.

Staycations are rapidly growing in popularity, and basically mean to stay in your home area instead of jetting off aboard for your holidays, and there are many benefits to taking one of these kinds of breaks, as not only are they less stressful as you won’t have to do lots of travelling to get to your destinations, but they are also much better for the environment and provide you with a way to support your local businesses.

It is important to plan your staycation just as you would any other holiday, and have lots of new activities booked and ready to enjoy and this will help prevent you from being tempted just to veg out at home and waste your week doing nothing, or worse still tire yourself out by doing chores instead of relaxing and enjoying yourself.

Check out your local paper for events such as festivals, fairs and shows that are happening your area, and you could also take the time to visit the nearest Tourist Information Office for more ideas for local places of interest to visit and activities to take part in.

In the UK it is estimated that as many as 229 million cups of tea and coffee are drunk every day, and that is a significant cost in terms of electricity to power all those kettles.

You can help to save on carbon emissions and reduce power consumption with just a few simple changes to the way you make your daily cup of tea:

• Keep It Simple – buy a concealed element kettle as this will mean you can boil less water when you make your hot drinks, as some exposed element designs need a certain amount of water in them before they will work properly. Also avoid kettles with fancy neon lights and ‘stand by’ features which use a lot of electricity.
• Measure Water – only boil as much water as you actually need to make your cup of tea, so fill your mug with water and then use this to fill the kettle, instead of filling it straight from the tap.
• Boil Once – if you put the kettle on to boil don’t wander off and do something else, as if it takes to long you will have to boil the kettle again when you come back which is a waste of time and energy.