Photo courtesy of Ami H at Flickr.com.

For a deliciously fragrant addition to your garden, lay a flagstone pathway and plant low-lying herbs with aromatic foliage in the cracks between the stones. They can take the place of other groundcover, and when someone walks the path their foliage will be crushed or bruised, releasing their scents. Plants in the mint family (spearmint, catnip, peppermint and the like) are especially effective, because they’re relatively inexpensive, spread swiftly, and are quick to recover after they’ve been stepped on. Creeping thyme is also a colorful and effective option, and chamomile works too, if you don’t mind a slightly taller herb.

Photo courtesy of bradmohr at Flickr.com.

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As we’ve mentioned before, having good indoor air quality is one of the major tenets to a green building.

And like our walls, we’ve sealed our concrete floors with a No VOC sealant that doesn’t emit all those harmful fumes like the regular sealants. Instead of adding new flooring, we kept the cement flooring that’s been here ever since this building was built, and we simply added a grey sealant to give it a fresher, more updated look.

Using a No VOC sealant is helping ensure we have great indoor air quality, which makes us all happy!

To check our our entire list of environmentally friendly business features , check out our What Makes us an Eco-Friendly Company? section.

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After heating and air conditioning, lighting is one of the biggest sources of energy use. That’s why here at Clean Air Gardening, we only use fluorescent and LED lighting.

In our showroom, we’ve switched to LED lights, which use even less energy than Compact Fluorescent bulbs and can produce the same amount of wattage as incandescent bulbs. And while LED lights can be costly upfront, they produce light up to 11 or more years, meaning you will only have to replace them every decade or so. Plus, with the amount we’ll be saving on our energy bills, these bulbs will pay for themselves very quickly. Even after 50,000 hours, the LED bulbs we use will still shine up to 70% of their initial intensity.

Another benefit of LED light bulbs is that they do not get hot like incandescent bulbs, and when you multiply that by only a few bulbs, that can drastically help save on cooling. And unlike, compact fluorescent bulbs, which are still a great alternative to incandescent bulbs, LED bulbs contain no mercury.

Interested in using LEDs in your home? Check out our LED and Compact Fluorescent Lighting section.

To check out the list of our other environmentally friendly business features, check out our What Makes us an Eco-Friendly Company? section.

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Photo courtesy of Dave in Tejas at Flickr.com.

If your town doesn’t give away free mulch (as many do), then consider getting a supply from local tree surgeons and private trimming companies. They’ll most likely be happy to dump a pile of shredded tree trimmings at your curb, because then they don’t have to take it to the landfill.

If you decide not to compost it or use it for mulching your plants, then you can always use it for making garden paths. Just be sure, before you order up your free mulch, that it’s from trees that haven’t been sprayed or otherwise contaminated with pesticides or herbicides.

Photo courtesy of Martin LaBar at Flickr.com.

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Photo courtesy of krispyks at Flickr.com.

While many of us associate Epsom salts with soothing baths, the product also has several uses in the organic garden. Not only can this naturally occurring sulfate of magnesium fight diseases in tomatoes (as part of a tonic treatment that also includes baking soda, compost, and dry milk), it’s an excellent way to curb magnesium deficiency in other plants.

If you notice the signs of magnesium deficiency — the yellowing of older leaves and curled leaf edges — mix a tablespoon of Epsom salts into a gallon of water and apply the solution to the roots of the affected plants.

Photo courtesy of Ennor at Flickr.com.

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I missed a week with the composter because I was on a cruise in the Caribbean. Sorry about that. While I was away, there weren’t any problems with the device (can something without moving parts be a device?). So, I learned that you can leave it sealed and alone for at least 2 weeks without any unforeseen consequences.

What’s in my composter? (new items are marked in bold):
Some paper napkins
3 pumpkins worth of pumpkin goo
A pint of cherries
2 pear pits
About 1/4 of the bag of Bokashi
2 Corn cobs
The rinds of 5 oranges
3 Grapefruit husks
About 3 cups of vegetable scraps
A cup of soy bean husks
8 Corn husks from Christmas tamales (hey - I live in Texas!)
More paper napkins
The skin of a miniature pumpkin
Half of a bagel
More Edamame husks
Scrap paper from direct mail
More than 2 dozen tea bags
Strawberries
Half a bag of Swiss Chard
Tree Leaves from my front porch
Red cabbage prepared with brown sugar and vinegar
More tea bags (green and white teas, if that matters)
Banana peels

Composter output:
About 1/2 a cup of compost tea (this comes out very slowly now, possibly due to the compacted material)
No unpleasant smells.

It’s full. Now what?

I’ve realized that the composter is pretty much stuffed now. I tried pressing down the contents, and didn’t accomplish much (although it felt really unpleasant and made me want to wash my hands under superheated water). I’m going to give the compost maker some time to digest its contents and check on it again 2 months from now.

One thing to consider when using a composter is what you’re going to do when it fills up. After I stop putting additional waste into this composter, it should take 1-3 months for everything to break down into usable soil. Now that I’ve gotten into the habit of saving kitchen scraps, I suspect that it’ll be a hard habit to break. Once your composter fills up, you’ll need an alternate storage space. Luckily, I have a another Kitchen Composter that I’m going to use. Doubling up is something you might want to consider if you order one of these because it saves on shipping and wont leave you in the lurch. That way, while one of your composters does its magic, you can keep feeding waste into the other one.

Also, there are composters out there that have separate compartments. These let you fill each compartment separately without any worries about surplus garbage.

Did you miss the start of this crazy experiment?
Previous Week…
Next Week…(coming soon)

Where to buy it:
Indoor Kitchen Composter, Click here!
$69.99, including the bin and extra bokashi.

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Photo courtesy of xybermatthew at flikr.com.

Instead of using plastic wrap or waxed paper to wrap up food items for the fridge or your lunch, use aluminum foil. It may be a little more expensive (though not necessarily so), but it’s better for the environment in a variety of ways.

Not only is it available in 100% recyclable form, it can be recycled endlessly and is often recycled into valuable machine parts. Plus, unlike wax and plastic, it’s not made from petroleum.

Add the fact that it’s better at withstanding heat and cold than waxed paper and plastic, and that it’s much better at retaining moisture, and you’ve got the ideal sustainable wrapping material.

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Another green feature that we’ve employed here at Clean Air Gardening is cork flooring in our upstairs offices. Cork is an extremely renewable source. It comes from cork oak trees, and according to the Cork Institute of America,

A cork tree regenerates its precious outer layer 12 or 13 times during its 150-year lifetime. The first stripping of the cork bark occurs when the tree is between 15 and 20 years of age, with subsequent yields at 9 to 10 year intervals.

Our cork flooring is made from the cork left overs from when wine corks are made. They take the remaining cork and make it into the tiles we used.

Having cork flooring in our upstairs offices actually helps the sound insulation. When people move around upstairs, it doesn’t sound like elephants walking around like it would with hardwood flooring. The cork flooring is also a bit springier than wood, giving the flooring a more cushy feel.

To read more about our green renovations, check out our What Makes us an Eco-Friendly Company? section.

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Photo courtesy of sideboarddave at flickr.com.

If you travel often for business and pleasure, you may be surprised to learn that there are plenty of things you can do to travel in a more ecologically sustainable manner.

For example, choose vacation destinations that are eco-friendly, and patronize companies that focus on ecotourism. If you can, take the train to your destination rather than flying; trains use much less fuel than airplanes, and consequently produce much less pollution.

Also, it never hurts to ask for a flex fuel or hybrid vehicle at the rental car counter. Most major rental car companies offer them, at least in their larger markets.

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Photo courtesy of Darwin Bell at Flickr.com.

Instead of tossing your banana peels in the trash can or even into the compost heap, consider burying them beneath your rosebushes instead. Banana peels are full of many of the nutrients roses need, including calcium, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, silica, sodium, and sulfur. Bury the peel whole about an inch below the soil at the base of one of your rosebushes, or chop it up and work it gently into the soil.

If you’re preparing to plant a rosebush and have some bananas on hand, why not enjoy a snack and let the new bush enjoy one too? Just throw a peel or two into the hole before you plant it.

Photo courtesy of spiicytuna at Flickr.com.

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