My Garden

I started thinking last night about what all I want to plant in my garden in the spring. This past spring, I had tomatoes, squash, carrots, strawberries, peppers, and watermelon. They thrived throughout the summer and helped create some delicious meals. This coming year, though, I think I want to plant some experimental things. I want to change it up a bit.

I think I'll only do big, fat tomatoes. No cherry tomatoes. I absolutely love fried green tomatoes, and it's impossible to make them from the small guys. And maybe some kind of purple green bean. My catalog has some very interesting specimens in it. Definitely going to do peas this time around...I really missed out on my fresh peas this year.

I may even try a lasagna garden. I don't like spraying pesticides and the like on my plants, and I hate pulling weeds, so maybe if I do the lasagna technique that will solve half of the problem. Plus, it'll use up this monstrous pile of newspaper that I haven't wanted to get rid of because I knew it would come in handy. I know it seems a little early to be thinking about all this, but you've got to get a plan in mind early on. Gardening takes preparation! I'm so excited! :)

Christmas recycling

I was thinking about getting all of my Christmas decorations down this afternoon and putting them up, but decided that I had too much to do. They will have to wait until this weekend. I got to thinking about how much trash I go through every year at Christmas time.

After shopping, all those shopping bags inevitably get thrown away instead of reused. The scraps of wrapping paper get tossed, along with the wrapping paper itself and probably the box too, after it's torn open. Then there's all the plastic that things are packaged in. I always have double the trash than any other normal time.

So I think this year I'm going to strictly use bags. Because I don't know about everyone else, but I reuse bags after I receive a gift in them. I neatly fold them up and use them the next time the occasion rolls around. So as much as I loooove wrapping presents, I'm going to stick to bags in hopes that they will be reused in 2010.

Is your house stinky and stuffy?

Knapp gives some tips on how to refresh the air inside your home the green way.

Make it Rain!

Scientists are trying to discover a way to make precipitation fall, either in the form of rain or snow. This method, called cloud-seeding, has been tried out in China. The droughts are causing them to resort to desperate measures. Read more.

Deck the Halls!

But should you deck them with a real or fake Christmas tree? A blogger posts on the positive and negative effects of both and makes a ruling on which is greener. She also gives suggestions on ways to find organic tree farms if you go the natural route.

Slightly humorous, but also true

A blogger posts on the negative effects of the amount of toilet paper we use and how many forests are destroyed to make our super soft tissue. Suggestions are made to buy recycled toilet paper and which ones are the best.

Ever eat out in Atlanta?

I do! That's why I was excited to find out this little interesting tidbit of information. HalfOffGreen.com gives coupons for restaurants that are trying to go green in Atlanta. If you eat in Atlanta at all, this could possibly save you some money! Check out the blog post for more details.