Did you know that April is Lawn and Garden month?
People’s Trust thinks the best way to start celebrating is with spring cleaning! To keep the spirit right, we’ve gathered some top cleaning and home maintenance tips with a green twist to help keep our environment and our planet healthy. These tips go great with our other thoughts to maintain a healthy lawn.
Plastics Are a Bad ‘Green’ Sign
Oprah shared one of our favorite new tips: don’t buy plants that come in plastic. Plastics can be a sign of environmentally unfriendly practices. If you have a favorite nursery that wraps plants in plastic, ask if they recycle it to ensure you’re buying green. If they don’t or you’re unsure, a great way to stay green is to purchase seeds instead of plants.
Feed Green Food to Your Plants
Who doesn’t love a good meal? Of course we do, and so do your plants! You can make those table scraps go a little farther by composting them for mulch and fertilizer. This reduces the amount of trash you’re generating and also can save your wallet a little by reducing the amount of plant-specific food you need to buy.
Dry in the Sunshine
Do you have a long, thin stretch of your yard that you need something to do with? Try installing a clothesline and hanging your damp clothes out to dry in the Florida sun. Sometimes our weather is a little too rainy to make use of an outside line, but there are plenty of drying racks that can be used inside too. All of these options save on energy bills and keep your laundry room from getting too hot in the summer.
Maintain Your Home’s Air Too
You can also bring some of that cultivated garden goodness inside and reap health benefits. Plants make a great live air filter and can brighten up your space. Some of the top air scrubbers include English ivy, peace lilies, gerbera daisies and the fichus. Keep a few of these in the rooms you use the most. If you have time to water and care for a lot of plants, the optimal home maintenance ratio is roughly one plant per 100 square feet in your home.
Not only can plants reduce the presence of things like benzene, trichloroethylene, and formaldehyde – NASA says so – they also lend a nice scent to your home.
Get Greener: Save Some Paper
If you’re looking to save trees that are grown elsewhere, consider using fewer paper towels. There are a variety of machine washable towels that you can use and even some products that are more renewable, such as bamboo-paper towels. Bamboo is a renewable resource that grows quickly and can be harvested often, saving other trees.
Many of your bills and service statements, like those from the bank, can now be emailed directly to you. Going paperless is a great way to save trees and even reduce your costs by eliminating the price of a stamp for each bill you used to mail back. Reducing the clutter also helps prevent damage from bugs and other home maintenance issues.
People’s Trust hopes these tips help you have a healthy lawn, garden and home while also doing your part to have a healthy planet. Happy April and happy planting.
This Blog is sponsored by:
People’s Trust Insurance Company