Green Goes Simple: Conservation at Home

How Does Your Garden Grow?

By Elizabeth Barker for Green Goes Simple

Planting and cultivating a garden with your family can offer a bounty of benefits to you and your kids. Along with fostering your kids’ fondness for fresh fruits and veggies, gardening with your children can enhance their eco-consciousness.

“It’s so valuable for kids to see the direct effect of their taking care of the earth,” says Rose Judd-Murray, education specialist for the National Gardening Association. What’s more, working in the garden gives kids hands-on learning about hard-to-grasp concepts, like reducing pesticide use and preventing soil erosion.

Even if you’ve never picked up a trowel, starting a garden can be a snap! Here, four easy ways to build a kid-friendly plot that thrives:

1. Get Prepped
First, size up the soil quality and sunlight availability in your backyard. Choose a space that sees about six hours or more of sunshine each day. To prepare soil for planting, you can add composted matter (a great way to use the contents of your kitchen compost can, if you have one). Then, loosen the soil to give roots a place to grow, and remove any visible weeds. For more tips on prepping soil, visit Garden.org. Don’t be afraid to start small, says Judd-Murray. “You don’t need to dig up your entire lawn,” she says. “You can just begin with a couple of containers, or go to a garden center and pick up some transplants that pop right out of the plastic and into the ground.”

2. Choose Your Crops
When gardening with little ones, keep short attention spans in mind and include a few seeds that won’t take too long to sprout — think carrots and radishes for vegetable gardens, sunflowers and zinnias for flower plots. And while inspiring kids to try new veggies is a great gardening perk, focusing on foods they already love is also essential. “Children might like to plant raspberries to make their own jam, for instance, or grow the ingredients for homemade pizza sauce — such as tomatoes, peppers, onions, marjoram, garlic and basil,” says Elizabeth McCorquodale, author of Kids in the Garden.

3. Add an Eco-element
To teach your kids that plants can flourish naturally, look to eco-options for pest control. “Keeping plants healthy so they can defend themselves is key, so make sure to nourish them with homemade compost and use mulch to seal in moisture,” says McCorquodale. Building barriers from ground eggshells can also shield your plants from attack, she notes. And introducing beneficial bugs like ladybirds, lacewings and hoverflies can provide natural defense against the bad bugs and stop them from chowing down on your crops.

4. Cultivate Your Kid’s Green Thumbs
As your children get gardening, take note of the tasks they most enjoy. “Some kids will love the digging and weeding and organizing, while others will get a thrill from the competition of growing the fattest, sweetest or shiniest plants,” says McCorquodale. To keep that enthusiasm from waning, she recommends dividing the more tedious gardening duties into brief blocks of time.

Setting your kids up for gardening success is also a smart move, according to McCorquodale. “Give the children their own sunny corner and fill it with the best weed-free soil,” she suggests. “When it comes to nurturing their love for gardening, remember that a little success can go a long way.”
Elizabeth Barker is a Los Angeles-based freelance writer and executive editor of fashion blog NoGoodForMe.com. Her work has appeared in Body + Soul, Natural Health, Vegetarian Times, Variety and Kiwi.

Green Goes Simple: The Green Scoop

That’s a Lot of Water!

By Rachel Bertsche for Green Goes Simple

You’ve probably given some thought to your carbon footprint, but what about your water footprint? According to the EPA, the average family of four uses 400 gallons of water per day. That’s the equivalent of using more than an entire swimming pool’s worth of water every two months!

Wondering where those 100 gallons per person come from? Consider this: A bathroom faucet runs at about 2 gallons of water per minute. The shower uses about 4 gallons per minute. And a single toilet flush can use as much as 7 gallons.

“That 400 gallons is just direct water use,” says Kai Olson-Sawyer, a water research and policy analyst who runs the online water conservation project H2O Conserve. “It doesn’t even account for our indirect, or virtual, water use, like the water used by the production of food, electricity and more.”

Curious how your water intake stacks up against the average American? Plug your info into H2O Conserve’s Water Footprint Calculator, and then make these easy changes that will help you save some water — and some money on your next water bill.

1. Fix all leaks, especially in the toilet. “Leaks are huge water wasters,” says Olson-Sawyer. “If you notice any drips, take care of them immediately.” Flushing the toilet is, on average, the largest use of household water, and a leaky toilet can waste up to 200 gallons per day. Olson-Sawyer recommends looking into a water audit for your home, which is when a professional comes into your home to identify sources of leaks and water waste. “You might spend a little bit of money to shore up your plumbing, but you’ll stop leaks that will cost you in the long run,” he says.

2. Turn off the water when you aren’t using it. It sounds simple and obvious, but letting the water run while you brush your teeth, shave or wash dishes is a common mistake. “It speaks to the general mentality that we have an unlimited supply of water,” says Olson-Sawyer. “But it’s about being conscious of your actions and your water use.” Turning off the faucet while shaving or brushing your teeth can save more than 200 gallons of water per month!

3. Make your water do double duty. If you look for them, you can find a number of ways to make your water work harder for you. “When you’re waiting for the shower to heat up, put a bucket underneath the showerhead,” suggests Olson-Sawyer. “Collect that water to use for the plants around the house. It’s a great two-for-one.” You can also try washing your pet on the lawn, which needs watering anyway. You’ll get a great bang for your buck.

4. Fill up your dishwasher or laundry machine before running it. “People tend to throw a shirt or two in the laundry and not think about it; the same goes for people who don’t like to wash dishes,” says Olson-Sawyer. “But obviously, the fuller you load the machines, the more efficient your water use will be.” Still, he points out that running the dishwasher — even if it’s only half full — is always a more conservative use of water than washing the dishes by hand.

5. Water your plants when temperatures are cooler. Do your gardening in the morning or in the evening instead of in the midday sun. “Especially during the summer, when you’re more likely to be gardening, you’re going to lose a hefty percentage of water to evaporation. It makes the best sense to do the work when temperatures are lower,” says Olson-Sawyer.

6. Invest in water-friendly appliances. When you can, use low-flow water fixtures (including toilets) and put aerators on your sinks. Both of these features use less water but don’t affect water pressure. “Make these changes as toilets or faucets wear out,” says Olson-Sawyer. “You don’t have to go crazy replacing them all, but when you are renovating or switching things out, keep it in mind.” Look for fixtures with the EPA WaterSense label, which means they are at least 20 percent more water-efficient than average products in that category.

Rachel Bertsche is a Web producer, blogger and journalist who lives in Chicago. She’s written for O, The Oprah Magazine, Marie Claire, Every Day With Rachael Ray, Outside and Fitness. Her first book, MWF Seeking BFF, will be out next year.