Growing fresh vegetables is fairly easy to do, and is becoming more popular all the time. With the rising price of store-bought vegetables, it’s no surprise people have become more inclined to do it themselves. In addition to the fresh-from-the-garden taste, you also get the convenience of enjoying home-grown organic vegetables when you want them. That pleasure is over and above the financial savings. Following are a few tips on how to make an eco-friendly raised garden bed.

What Is an Eco-Friendly Raised Garden Bed?

Basically, an eco-friendly garden bed is a vegetable patch that is grown without using chemicals or pesticides. An eco-friendly garden uses natural fertilizers and composting. Having the garden bed raised has a couple of advantages: you can fill the garden with the type of soil you prefer and direct the water exactly where you want it to go is easier. Raised garden beds are also easy to make aesthetically pleasing. The ornamental aspect is fun and looks good, too.

Building the Garden Bed

The actual construction of a raised garden bed can be as easy or difficult as you choose to make it. There are no strict rules or regulations; you are simply raising your garden bed above the level of the surrounding ground. Choose a spot that gets plenty of sunshine, and then gather your materials. It would be advisable to put hardware cloth or landscaping fabric beneath the area of your garden to help prevent pests from getting to your vegetables from below. The sides of your raised garden bed can be constructed of brick, cement blocks, wood, or even recycled materials. The idea is to enclose an area and then fill it with soil, thereby raising it above ground level. Your raised garden bed can be as large or small as you want it to be. Look at it as a giant flower pot–you build your pot as big as you want, fill it with soil and allow a place for water to seep out.

Benefits of an Eco-Friendly Garden

Most eco-friendly gardeners insist that not using chemicals or pesticides improves the taste of your herbs and vegetables, and they are better for your overall health. Growing herbs and vegetables organically retains more of the natural vitamins and minerals that have proven to be better for you. This is in addition to the savings you will get by not having to pay high prices at a grocery store. There’s also another benefit; if you store these eco-friendly herbs and vegetables correctly, you can enjoy them year round.

Planting Your Eco-Friendly Raised Garden

Before planting your garden, it would be a good idea to do some research so you will know how to care for your vegetables. Ask your friends and neighbors who have experience in gardening for some tips. Most people who grow organically are passionate about it and will be more than happy to share their knowledge. You may also want to take classes in organic gardening.

After you’re content that you know enough about eco-friendly gardening to get started, collect the seeds you will use. Of course, you will be using organic seeds, which come from plants that have not been genetically altered. These are generally called heirloom seeds. The next step is to prepare the soil, which could take up to a year to do it correctly. Mix compost and natural fertilizers, which will draw leftover chemicals from the soil, thereby stimulating the nutrients in the soil. This will help establish a healthy root system. You will need to check the pH level of the soil. Ask your more experienced friends to help in the soil preparation process in order to make sure it’s done the right way.

Caring for Your Eco-Friendly Raised Garden

Once the planting is done, you need to care for the garden on a daily basis. The plants need to be watered and properly fertilized. You should pull weeds as necessary. Depending on how high you made the walls on your raised garden, the actual care may be easier than having to get down on your hands and knees to pull weeds. In order to keep pests out, such as deer and rabbits, you could put a fence around it. Just make sure you leave access so you can water the plants efficiently.

Guest post from Bailey Harris. Bailey writes for www.businessinsurance.org.

When it comes to going green, much of the press focuses on incandescent lights and gas guzzling cars, trucks and SUV’s.  And for good reason—they do indeed make quite the carbon footprint.  But to be fair, you must take a close look at the HVAC system in your home if you are truly going to take this “going green” thing seriously.  Here are four great ways to green up your HVAC system and also put some green back in your wallet!

1. Buy a new HVAC system.

We all know how expensive HVAC systems are.  The install is thousands of dollars in and of itself and that doesn’t even include the system!  Plus, when you replace your gas furnace it often makes sense to replace your central air conditioning unit as well.  Or perhaps you have a heat pump instead, which means only one unit, but still not cheap.  The thing is, if you haven’t checked out heat pump reviews for a while you would be amazed at how far these things have come along in terms of efficiency.  The same goes for furnaces and AC units.  What was 8 SEER less than a decade ago can now be 20-22 SEER and save a ton in electricity.  An expensive option to be sure, but the savings can be substantial depending on how often you use your system and the climate you live in.

2. Close Your Shades in the summer heat!

Something that just about everyone can relate to right now is the crazy high temperatures and their effect on our cooling bills!  When it comes to air conditioning, the best way to keep your house cool is to keep the heat out in the first place!  Having some 200 year old oak trees goes a long way to helping, but for those not willing to wait several generations there is, luckily, another option.  Close your shades and blinds during the middle of the day and the sun’s rays won’t find their way in to heat up the inside of your house.  Just this simple step can save you 15-20% on your cooling bills this summer.

3. Replace that filter!

Ask any HVAC professional the most egregious thing they see over and over again from home owners and they will invariably say the same thing—they don’t change their air filter often enough.  If you go looking for a home to purchase, your realtor will talk of many examples where the previous owners didn’t replace them at all!  With Corporate America selling everyone on more expensive allergen reducing filters, the use of these has grown exponentially.  The key thing to keep in mind is that your HVAC system does move air around your house, but it wasn’t designed for the purpose of cleaning the air!  It is designed to make the temperature comfortable.  Nothing saps efficiency faster than a clogged or restricting filter, so make sure you change it at least monthly.  On top of that, it will keep you from expensive repair bills on your HVAC unit, especially when you are heating your home because restricting airflow causes overheating and wear on critical parts.

4. Buy a programmable thermostat.

For $30 you can pick up a programmable thermostat which will allow you to change the settings of your heating and cooling system while you are away.  And if you don’t have pets or people at home during the day you’re simply throwing money out the window by cooling your home when no one is there.  Dropping your home’s temperature by even 1 or 2 degrees during the day can save 5%-10%.  And if you have a screwdriver, you can easily do this one yourself.

Darin Hansen is an HVAC veteran who has seen just about every side of the HVAC business from web wholesaler to the manufacturing floor. You can read more about all things HVAC related on his site including some tips on how to find wholesale HVAC systems from just about every major manufacturer.