Sustainable farming techniques contribute to the earth rather than take away from it. Using these techniques, you can grow plants without contributing to pollution or depleting natural resources. Your garden should pretty much sustain itself, without much interference or inputs from you.  Here are 15 tips for sustainable or organic gardening practices, without using natural biophysical resources.

Limit Your Lawn Size

Lawns tend to drain more water and also use more fossil fuel than gardens for their growth and maintenance. Here are a few tips on how to reduce your fuel dependency and water usage by manipulating your lawns.

• Opt for a mixed-grass lawn rather than grow a single variety of grass. Since not all varieties of grass require the same amount of water for growth, you’ll be able to save water.
• Choose the right type of lawn grass that’ll grow well on its own given the climatic conditions of your local region.
• To save fossil fuel, use either a manual or an electric lawn mower.
• You can also consider getting rid of your lawn and planning shrubs, trees and perennials instead as these give back more to the environment.

Use Natural Fertilizers

Chemical fertilizers are high on toxicity and harm your environment. Not only do they affect the quality of produce and its taste, they also introduce harmful chemicals into your body. Use natural fertilizers that are beneficial to your plants and your health.

• Create your own compost using yard clippings, vegetable peelings, fruit cores, dried leaves, and so on.
• Make mulch out of shredded newspapers and mix it in with the compost. The newspapers retain water and will also reduce runoff and protect soil.
• Use rock phosphate, compost, kelp, fishmeal, alfalfa meal and seaweed instead. These natural fertilizers feed both your soil and its microorganisms.

Fight Weeds

Weeds kill beneficial plants and allow pests to breed and cause infestations. Preventing weeds from growing is the first thing you should do in your pest control endeavor.

• Use cardboard to cover weeds and prevent them from growing instead of spraying herbicides.
• Use native plants in your garden as these will grow without much assistance from you, as opposed to exotic plants. Native plants can fight weeds better as they don’t have to struggle hard to survive in the soil and climatic conditions.
• Replace plants regularly to maximize soil nutrient value and prevent weeds from spreading.

Reduce Garden Maintenance

You will need to devote more time, fuel, water and other resources to maintain a robust garden. Keep your garden simple.

• Don’t make “shrub lollipops,” as these need constant maintaining with gas-powered pruners. Allow shrubs to grow to their natural height and size.
• Don’t over apply fertilizer; you’ll be constantly mowing your lawn because fertilizer will make your grasses grow too fast.

Keep Pests Away

To keep snails and slugs away, don’t use commercially prepared snail bait. You’ll harm the birds that come to feast on your garden. You may also harm your pets. Use one of the following methods:

• Layer the paths between your plants with salt. Snails and slugs hate salt and they will not walk over it. Sprinkle the salt just as it starts getting dark, because snails and slugs are more active in the night than during the day.
• During rainy weather, pour beer into low, wide saucers and keep these in between your precious plants. Snails and slugs will be attracted to the smell of beer and fall into your little beer puddles.
• Disburse beneficial insects such as ladybugs in areas of your garden that are infested with pests. The ladybugs eat your plant pests, keeping your plants healthy.
• Encourage small toads and frogs to breed in your garden. These will eat their fill of flying and crawling insects, keeping them away from your plants.
• Capture flying insects such as whiteflies by sticking pheromone-sprayed cardboard pieces between your plants.
• Usually certain insect pests prefer specific plant species. By separating the most insect-prone plants, you can restrict the insects to one section of your garden.
• Check your garden every week for signs of insect activity. Eliminate weeds, look under leaves and check for stems that looked chewed up.
• If you find pests clinging to plants, spray them off using water. Prune infested foliage and destroy it. Check for insect egg cases and destroy them. These methods work well at the early stages of infestation.
• For heavy infestations, apply the least toxic pesticides such as insecticidal soaps or horticultural oils directly to the pests. Do not spray them on the plants.

Save Water

The most planet-friendly thing you can do to sustain your environment is to save water. Here are a few tips that’ll help you grow a flourishing garden while saving precious water.

• Don’t water your lawn when the rains are due, even if the grass goes brown. Your grass won’t die; the rains will refresh it.
• Place water butts all over your garden to harvest rainwater. Dig trenches next to garden paths and layer them with stones to collect rainwater that can later be used to water plants.
• Install a green roof over your garage or shed to help you reduce the amount of water that enters the drains.
• Group plants that don’t need much sunlight in shadier parts of your garden or under awnings. This way they won’t lose water.
• Eliminate all the weeds from your garden as they only suck up moisture from your soil without offering anything in return.
• Water to the roots of your plants once every 10 days. This is more effective than spraying water on the greens.
• Mix mulch into your compost to soak up and retain water. Old newspapers make excellent natural mulch.
• Water those plants that need more water and those that are least likely to survive drought, such as new plants and seedbeds.

Recycle

By recycling products, you can ensure lesser strain on the environment and limit toxic wastage. Here are a few interesting tips on how to use recycled products in your garden.

• Collect vegetable peels, fruit peel and cores and leftover raw vegetables and use them as compost.
• Recycle wood from sheds, paving slabs from your driveway and tiles and timber from your home and greenhouses. You can create garden paths, garden furniture, garden separators, post, climbers and many other necessary garden items from these.
• You can benefit a great deal by joining recycling group such as the Freecycle Network. Exchange tips, buy items made of recycled products and find out how best you can recycle materials within your garden.
• Recycle dead leaves from your property; either mix them in your compost or contribute them to your municipal compost site.
• Channel the water from your shower into a purification tank outside. You can use organic water purifiers and use the refreshed water on your garden.
• Don’t throw away broken plastic bottles. You can use them to grow plants in small spaces. Cut the bottles in half; make a few holes at the bottom for water drainage, and plant herbs and small flowering plants in them.

Marina Chernyak is co-owner of 1001Shops, an online store of specialty products like decorative mirrors, modern tables and lot more.

Today’s article is a guest post from Jade. Whatcha’ got to say, Jade?

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Everybody loves to get stuff, and giving gifts can be even more fun than receiving them. Whether it’s Christmas, birthdays, or care packages, we may find ourselves having to send gifts through the mail rather than hand delivering them. If you’re a green minded person, the gifts you send and the way you send them can reflect that personal philosophy. Here’s how:

The Gift Itself

You don’t have to be a tree-hugger to want to send greener gifts. And the gift doesn’t have to be a bag of trail mix that makes the recipient roll their eyes either. In fact, green gifts can be cool, unique and even extremely useful.

• Have a tree named after someone in the Rainforest – Any anti-deforestation advocate will appreciate having a tree purchased in their name. And even people who aren’t passionate about saving the Rainforest will enjoy the idea that the conifer bearing their name will grow and thrive long after they are gone.

• Send Vegetables– Flowers in a vase are nice, but vegetables that can be planted in a garden are a present that will last much longer. Sending vegetables instead of flowers also encourages local growing and self-sustenance. You won’t need long distance movers for a small plant, but try to avoid sending anything in full bloom.

• A Wind-up Universal Remote – Even with recycling programs in place, millions of batteries still wind up in land fills every year. With this remote, you can cut batteries out of the television control equation altogether. Simply by winding it, you’ll be able to generate all of the power necessary to run it without ever having to resort to batteries.

• A Solar Powered Charger – When a charger is left plugged in, it continues to use electricity even when it’s not charging a device. If you know a forgetful un-plugger, these gadgets will allow them to eliminate charger cords for good. They are also great gifts for frequent campers who often don’t have access to outlets and don’t want to drain car batteries.

• Organic Cotton – The cotton growth and production process is astoundingly chemically intensive and dependent on pesticides. That’s why buying organic cotton is a great way to help reduce the demand on such an environmentally destructive industry. Many people say that organic cotton is softer and more comfortable which may be a result of the lack of chemicals used in manufacturing. That makes organic cotton garments, towels, napkins or sheets awesome gifts for anyone on any occasion.

• Green cosmetics – Most women use some form of cosmetics in their day to day lives, whether it’s full on face paint or just Chap Stick. The problem with common cosmetics is the myriad of sketchy chemicals used to make them. But the gift of greener make-up is something that most females will appreciate. Mineral foundation, natural lip balms, or other organic and petroleum free products are all great gifts that are good for the planet.

• Water Efficiency Products – We waste a lot of water in this country without even thinking about it. From showers and toilet flushing to watering our gardens, we tend to be sadly cavalier with H20. Fortunately, there are bathroom based gifts like the Perfect Flush that can minimize the use of excess toilet water. There are also many styles of low-flow shower heads to optimize shower water usage. For an outdoorsy person, you can send a rain barrel to collect rain water. The accumulated water can then be used in place of sprinklers in a garden. These kinds of equipment upgrades aren’t always high on everyone’s to-do list, so they make the perfect green gift idea.

Packing and Shipping

Don’t stop at going green with just the theme of the gift; the way you send it matters too. When you’re packing a gift, think about alternatives to typical packing materials. If you can, always avoid any form of Styrofoam packing peanuts and even bubble wrap. Re-use old newspapers or think about including a form of textile in the gift like a towel or t-shirt that you can use to protect more breakable items.  If you’re wrapping the present in gift paper or sending a greeting card, look for recycled or tree-free versions of theses items. Wrapping paper made of flax or hemp is just as attractive and much more eco-friendly.

When you’re shipping the gift, the mode you choose can be another statement of a social conscience. Whether you’re using FedEx, UPS or USPS, there are ways to make your shipment more carbon neutral. Using route optimization technologies, these institutions are trying to reduce their carbon footprint. By making fewer stops, using the most efficient routes and eliminating empty cargo containers, these shipping companies are all doing their part to help make the delivery industry kinder to the environment. If you want to go the extra mile, and spend a few extra dollars, you have the option of purchasing GreenShipping carbon offsets to truly eliminate the carbon footprint of your shipment.

If you are a green-minded individual, there are ways to evangelize without being preachy and annoying. The gifts you send others can be representatives of the many awesome green products on the market. Some of them are just cool, while others can really improve people’s lives. And when you choose a greener way to send your gift the message is two-fold. This subtle strategy is a smart way to help spread the green message while bringing a smile to the face of someone you love.

Jade writes for uShip, a site helping people find long distance movers and other shipping help. Jade has been working in print and online marketing for many years and has become very active in blogging.

This is a guest article by Debbie Dragon. What’s up, Debbie?

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Sometimes the recommendations for living a greener lifestyle cost quite a bit of money to implement.  Sure, you can power your home with windmills and a solar panel roof – but the cost of implementing such a lifestyle change puts it out of reach for the typical household.  There are many ways living green can save money, though, and add more of it to your budget.

To see exactly how much the following green-living tips can save you, enter your numbers in a budget calculator – then use your savings to reduce your debt or take a vacation!

Make Your Own Meals:  Save Thousands Annually (Potentially)

The United States Consumer Expenditure reports show that an average family spends about $4,000 a year on restaurants and take out meals.  Not only can you reduce your food budget by thousands by preparing your meals at home, but you’ll start paying more attention to the quality of ingredients you buy, and perhaps plant a fruit or vegetable garden to further your savings and health.  Preparing your own meals is healthier than eating in restaurants, and will cost significantly less.

Try Carpooling: Save $650 to $1400 Annually

Cars aren’t that great for the environment, and with the high costs of filling up, they’re also not so great on our budgets!  If you’re commuting 30 miles a day, and your car averages 23 miles per gallon – you’re looking at about 6.5 gallons of gas a week.  At $3.95 a gallon, you’re spending $25.76 a week to get yourself to and from work.  If you look at the cost of commuting 52 weeks a year, you’re in the $1,300 range for gasoline—and this doesn’t count any other driving you may do, or any other car ownership expenses.

You can reduce the effects of driving on the environment and save money by carpooling.  Share a car and a gas bill for commuting with a friend and you’ll save about $650 a year.  Find a couple more friends, and increase the savings in each of your budgets and reduce the number of cars on the roads day after day.

Recycle Your Electronics: Save a Few Hundred Dollars

What do you do with cell phones and charges you aren’t using anymore? How about laptops and other gadgets once they’ve worn out?  If you’re like most people, you toss them in a drawer out of sight or toss them in the trash.  Instead, recycle your old electronics and get cash.  Try Gazelle.com, or YouRenew.com for details about trading in phones and electronics and how much they’ll earn you.  Throwing electronics in the trash is potentially toxic and not a good move for the environment – so look at methods for recycling them before tossing.

Stop Buying Bottled Water: Save Over $240 Annually

Instead of buying bottled water at $4 or more a case, purchase a water filter that lets you purify tap water.  Not only will you reduce the amount of plastic containers you waste each week, but the savings can really add up.  If you tend to spend $5 a week or more on bottled water, you’re looking at over $260 annually.  Purchase a $20 water filter for your faucet, and keep refilling your glass.  The filters are much less expensive to replace than what you spend on bottled water; and you won’t have all of those plastic bottles to fill up the landfills.

Hang Your Clothes to Dry: Save $85+ Annually

The clothes dryer is one of the biggest consumers of home electricity, to the tune of about $85 a year, according to the California Energy Commission.  Simply hanging your clothes on a dryer rack or outside on a line can save electricity—good for both the environment and your budget.  Further savings are found by air drying clothes because it helps your clothing last longer.  When clothes are tossed in the dryer after each wash, they tend to wear out much quicker than when they’re air dried.  With the average family spending $900 on clothing annually, you could potentially save another few hundred dollars a year by air drying clothes instead of tossing them in the dryer.

Debbie Dragon is a finance writer providing articles for Vertex42.com, which offers a large selection of free spreadsheet templates and financial calculators.