Eco Friendly House And Garden

Rather than lock up and leave – why not space-share?

Your local community hall is a prime example of great eco thinking whether you think of it like that or not. It is the hub of the local area with kids clubs, jumble sales, talks and teas as well as countless other sports groups, specialists and aerobics!

All it has are 4 walls and basic amenities – but everyone can have a share in its space and resources – and it is used for most of the day, every day. It only had to be built once, only has one land footprint, only needs one electric and water supply and is well funded for repairs and maintenance.

However, not so for the local business offices.

They are all separate units with separate utilities, separate land footprints and each owner has to pay for all repairs and maintenance; and it is only used for 8 hours a day. That's 16 hours a day it is empty plus possibly the 48 hours for the weekend as well.

Not really an eco friendly building even if it has low energy lightbulbs!

Timetabling:

This new buzz word is trying to make communities and businesses think about sharing facilities. Not only to reduce costs, but also to reduce the need for separate properties and individual expenses and resources etc.

It's a bit like a time share. Rather than you buying a house on an island and only visiting a couple of times a year – you take a turn at living in an island home with another 25 people – making better use of that property and sharing the costs.

You are also sharing in the eco savings!

photo credit: kaiwaisheep

So by drawing up a plan of shared action, you can make a building, hut, hall or office work harder for its money! For example using a school building in the evening for adult education, using a community hall for step classes after the Scouts have gone home, and using a church for WI meetings outside of worship hours.

All these things can reduce the demand for new buildings and new resources.

Sharing Skills:

Obviously to be able to share a workspace, the area – and your equipment – needs to be flexible and easy to move.

If the space is already occupied by equipment that can't be moved or removed, then you have to work around it, but generally if you have flat-pack furniture and large but easy to move storage containers, then setting up and packing away can be very easy and quick. For example, when you go caravanning the space is used very wisely.

The table flaps away, cupboards are wedged into corners, roofs can be raised and beds are created with a few slides of a cushion. The space is very eco friendly – and easy to use.

So why not try to imitate this with a church hall or school building. Having excessive (and lockable) storage is a plus as each group can leave their stuff onsite rather than loading up their car everytime or carrying it down the street.

An Eco Improvement:

Added to this sharing, the act of not having a single use facility also has other eco benefits.

For example with shops and offices, they sometimes have a 'set design', they want everything to be branded and perfect – which obviously leads to its own problems.

Once a new 'trendy' shop has set up and traded for a while, it may want to move on – and then what happens to its furniture and fittings? They will no doubt get thrown out or broken by the next company that move in.

Personalising your own space is very wasteful.

Tastes change, businesses come and go – and resources get wasted. Whereas if you are designing a multi-purpose space with many people in mind, the furniture and fittings are built to last in very simple colours and designs – the 1 size fits all approach.

So, why not plan in the sharing aspect next time you get involved with a community group or are looking for a new site for your eco business.

Not only could it save you money – it could help the whole community.

A Real Guide To Sustainable Living – they say, and they mean business. 

This isn’t a book that you can take lightly – it is full of maths and equations to justify their suggestions; and some things really need explaining as they turn common eco conceptions on their head!

Basically this book explains how we should be approaching our lives if we truly want to live an eco friendly lifestyle – or to live ecologically within our ‘allotted’ means.  By ‘allotted’ they mean if we are only to use our fair share of worldly resources rather than just putting a green angle onto everything we do.

And to prove it, they open up with a look at the widely held beliefs of the world without even considering the eco consequences to see what we are expecting the Earth to do for us as we are today.  From there, they try to whittle us down to what the Earth can actually do for us.

The Book Itself:
The book is something you need to read with a notepad and calculator on one side and some strong coffee on the other!

I have a basic grasp of ‘footprints’, ‘embodied energy’ and the worlds finite resources – but the maths part was a bit too much to keep on top of piled thick, as it was, in the body of the text.

They did have a huge number of very easy to understand charts and tables of everything they were talking about (which helped make up for skipping all the equations) and I didn’t loose the thread of their arguments by not reading all the numbers and MJ’s etc.

The Authors help to explain why some of the things that we assume would be eco friendly turn out not to be based on a bigger picture – for example walking isn’t that ecologically sensible if you are getting all your energy (ie eating) processed cheeseburgers from a store.  Basically, the energy chain of land use, transport, chemicals, packaging, heating, storing and selling the burgers in the first place is so huge that the ‘eco’ effort of walking fuelled by burgers wasn’t really ‘saving the planet’.

photo credit: Bob B. Brown

Similarly a 20 minute shower in an eco friendly low-water shower still uses nearly twice the amount of water than a 5 minute shower in an old-style water-intensive shower.  Further more, sharing a bath between 2 people uses around the same water per person as that same eco-friendly – but long – shower.

They use compelling reasoning to hold this all together as well as extensive research data from around the globe.  And even though a lot of their arguments offer very simple solutions to the World’s ecological problems – much is still recommending a somewhat ‘alternative’ lifestyle, where you use hemp for clothes, buy less things, stay ‘behind the times’, somewhat, live in smaller houses with the lights off and share things with other people rather than buying your own.

Now I know that this will all reduce our eco footprints and keep our emissions down and the world turning – but these aren’t the eco friendly living tips that people want to hear.  The people that do want to hear this are probably already aware of most of their discussions already.

I totally agree that our actions are sometimes more important that the eco technology that is on offer (like flushing the toilet less times will save more water than flushing more times with a low-flush mechanism, and choosing a small basic home will be better in terms of resources than living in an enormous eco friendly house) but I think that it is preaching to the converted.

Result: 3/5:
Even if my not-so-eco-friendly friends could have forced themselves to have read this entire book in the first place, I don’t think they would be heeding much of it’s advice.

I think it is a great text-book style book and can really help to compare ecological differences between common activities and products, but I don’t think it will change peoples attitudes in the style in which it is written. 

Although I really enjoyed several section of this book, I noticed a flaw.  They spend so long working out the embodied energy (EE) of a product (or the products and activities that went into making the parts for that oringinal product) that they sometimes considered slightly different things as important in each case.

For example, in the only section of the book that I had a really good knowledge of (pets) they managed to completely write off the transport angle for the tinned food in their comparison of dog and cat food (even though they went into shoe leather replacement in the walking vrs driving section).  They say that the eco effect of tinned packaging was negligible because we are encourage to recycle tins!  Well, how on earth do they intend to get these tins to those 76.5 million hungry cats worldwide without making an ecological impact?

And secondly their argument included showing that a cat food with less meat content made less of an impact (obvious when you consider the land used for beef and the land used to grow the winter food for beef as well) – however, cats that are fed on low amounts of meat will be more likely to become ill, get dry skin, loose hair, get gum disease etc (as not enough meat or too much vegetable matter isn’t good for a cat).  As a result – you will be using your vet more often or maybe adding shampoos and supplements to your cat to ‘cover up’ all these new problems.

Now I’m sure that these cosmetics and medicines (and trips to the vets) have just as much of an impact as adding the few extra percents of meat in their food in the first place.  High quality dried pet food are fed in smaller quantities as other foods, and are known to reduce these health (and aesthetic) problems – as well as coming in bulk paper packaging instead of heavy, bulky tins filled with 80% water!

They also said that a well handled hamster will be happy to live on it’s own – where infact the most common type of hamster (the Syrian hamster) will ONLY ever live on it’s own.  If you put 2 in the same cage, they will no doubt fight to the death within just a few days!

So now, can I really believe all the other comparisons they made in areas that I know little about?

ISBN: 978-0-500-28790-3

Take inspiration from the tricks of historical homes – and reduce your impact!

If you have ever visited a historic house that retains a certain amount of it's true furnishing – then you could be inspired to try the same.

Now obviously, many historic houses have things that any modern eco friendly home should avoid – like extensive glazing on northern facing walls, trophy animal heads from overseas and dinner parties with 11 courses – but they also have some great ideas that you might need to investigate a little further to see the eco benefits to.

One recent idea that took my fancy was a room decorated with curtains instead of wall paper.  Now at first glance it seemed totally overwhelming and somewhat odd – but on speaking to the room steward it all made sense.

Eco Friendly Furnishings:
It turns out that this 'curtain' room was infact a money saving (and personal preservation) idea that incorporated great eco design – stolen from Norman castles and Tudor mansions!

Now, stone walls were no fun – and were very cold infact – so people from history used to create great tapestries that they would hang on the walls of their castles to keep the heat in!  Yes, these tapestries were beautiful in their own right and may well have portrayed a great battle or a great hunt – but they were really for stopping the cold.

If you have ever watched period dramas, they were also used to hide 'secret' doors and to create an image of wealth and prosperity!

And – the eco friendly part – could be changed to suit the mood without being destroyed.

Variety Is The Spice Of Life:
Say you wanted to change your bedroom design.  You would no doubt have to change the wallpaper, paint over existing walls and even the curtains or blinds would have to go.

Now, say you were able to 'peel off' the inside of your bedroom and keep it somewhere safe until you wanted it again – wouldn't that be a great idea?

Well, that is exactly what these wall 'curtains' allowed the home owner to do.  They wanted lighter, brighter and fun designs for the room in the summer; and maybe heavier, cosy and darker colours in the winter to help keep the place warm through the colder months.

So rather than having to destroy one interior to replace with another – and spend money and resources in the doing – they just got the winter curtains out of the loft and changed them over instead!

An instant change of room could be achieved without wasting any more money or materials.  Great for important meals, important visitors or for added wear and tear if it was a kids room!

photo credit: SimonCMason

Modern Twist:
I know you might look a bit odd in your city apartment if you started hanging curtains in every room, but you could use modern tapestries or other materials to cover large sections of wall and still look 'normal'.

Kids could have their rooms painted in a neutral colour and then have removeable embellishments to suit their fancy – like giant curtains on the window wall that don't just stop at the window's edge but continue to the floor and walls – or curtains they can draw on with washable inks.

Maybe they could have great big removable stickers that they could move around the room as and when they fancied a new scene – or even use wipe-clean pens to draw their own wall designs.

You shouldn't need to destroy a whole interior to change your rooms – and obviously any materials hung over doors and windows (and external walls) can help to reduce heat loss at the same time.

We all like change – just do it responsibly!

There is a way to save electricity that doesn’t involve any nagging!

Instead of always ‘reminding’ the kids to turn off that light and to not leave the TV on standby; and your partner to stop using the washing machine half empty and to only boil as much water as they need – nip it in the bud!

There is now an easy way to stop extra electricity being used in your home that could reduce your usage by around 10% without anyone even knowing.

They would be helping to save energy and lower your energy costs whether they left the lights on or not!

photo credit: CresySusy<

How’s That?
The standard voltage in the UK is variable – meaning that you regularly get more into your home than you actually need.

The appliances in your home work on a wide range of voltages – and they all have a minimum amount to get them started.  However, they will all keep working as normal with extra voltage – and you won’t even know they are using more electricity than they need!  

So, if they work at a basic minimum – why let them run on more? More electricity costs more money and releases more carbon……

And it would seem that too much electricity running through appliances all the time can actually shorten their ‘lifespan’ to a certain degree – so you will need to replace them more often – which is especially true for lightbulbs.

So, What Can You Do?
Well, why not limit the voltage entering your home to a standard level?

What if you could fit a special meter onto your power supply to make sure that you never got more energy than you actually needed: I mean; would you pay for 30 litres of fuel for your car everyday if you only needed 25? I didn’t think so…..

Therefore, by restricting the voltage that reaches your appliances and lights to around 240v means that they will all still work perfectly – and you won’t be wasting any energy.

And the beautiful thing is that you don’t have to worry about switches, buttons or stand-by – it basically works behind the scenes.  Once fitted it requires no maintenance, upgrades or alterations.  It just keeps saving you energy!

That way – if you do actually manage to convince your kids to switch off their Playstation – you will be saving even more!

Welcome back – and I hope the first 2 eco bathroom tips made sense!

I’m still in this holiday cottage – and in just the bathroom alone I am still finding ways to reduce their impact on the environment by making simple changes to the design and function of their bathroom.  Obviously I haven’t mentioned everything – like having a smaller sink – but I hope to have covered the main areas that could easily benefit your home if you are planning an eco-upgrade!

Needless to say all the little things added together really can make a difference if you think of them in the long term and for the whole community too. I mean 1 extra squirt of sealant in your bathroom might not seem so bad this week – but if every household in your county all went to the store and brought a tube of sealant for the same thing in the next 12 months – then it becomes a serious eco issue!

3) Proper Sealing:
The floor is tiled in this cottage – but the skirting is wood – so there is no waterproofing on the floor for cleaning purposes.  I know that it isn’t a full wetroom, but when you mop these tiles, you are going to get the wooden panels wet and allow excess water to seep down behind them and into the floor – not such a good idea really.

photo credit: Ken Doerr

Why not use tiles as the skirting so that you can virtually waterproof the room by using the same grout as the floor and so protect the walls and ground beneath from absorbing moisture.

Same goes for the sink.  Why not get a sink with a raised protective back that reaches a little way up the wall.  So, rather than the white sealant between the wall and basin holding a layer of soap or toothpaste-filled water and eventually going yellow and rotten or becoming mildew – the sink itself is in one piece so feeds the excess water back into the plughole!

It will eliminate all of the above problems and reduce the amount of cleaning and maintenance needed to virtually nothing.

4) Protect The Walls:
I don’t know about you, but I always hit the wall with the swinging light pulls – the larger the handle the more banging seems to occur! As you can imagine, each bang is damaging the wall.

Also, people can’t always find the string in the dark, so end up touching the paintwork or – as I have done if the pull string is too near the wall (as it is here) – chipped off some paint and sometimes plaster under my fingernails!

As you can imagine, it doesn’t take long for the paint to become patchy or the wall to become a bit dirty – so protect the wall with a tile. If you put a large tile or 4 smaller ones in the area where the most contact and therefore damage will occur, you can save having to repaint the entire wall for just that dirty patch!

A few tiles or a whole tub of paint?

5) More Hanging Space:
There are only 2 of us here, but the hanging space in the bathroom is virtually non-existent – so what do we do with the wet towels?

Well, you have to hang them somewhere, don’t you – which will inevitably be the backs of wooden chairs or over other wooden furniture like the stair rail. (Don’t forget that we are in a little self-contained unit away from home and without a garden so a drying horse or washing line just aren’t an option unless supplied).

Needless to say, the moisture from the towels is now being absorbed by the furniture and the room so as a result this could all be reducing their workable lifespan. And seeing as this property is designed to be used almost continually by family after family it is going to get through furniture a lot quicker anyway.

The Answer?
Well, there is nothing much I can do here as it has already been installed by the owners, but it is certainly worth considering these things when redecorating or improving your own bathrooms.

The future is looking towards sustainability and the longevity of our resources – so why not help by reducing the amount of repair and replacement your bathroom needs!

PS – it’s not quite damage to the bathroom itself, but one other thing they did is certainly a big no no and was very uncomfortable too:

6) Toilet Roll Holder:
They have put it right behind the toilet, so you have to reach right round to pull off a few sheets – but inevitably you pull off way more sheets than you actually wanted as you are bent sideways. But now they are all unrolled and in your hand – you are going to use them all aren’t you.

I mean who but the most eco addicts would leave those extra few sheets to one side and use them later?

By swapping the toilet with the sink in this room, they could have had the toilet roll holder to the side of the toilet reducing the excessive use of this already over-used resource.

Eco design should be a part of your eco living – it’s not just about the individual products.

Knowing what a plant loves best can make your eco friendly garden tick over nicely!

Eco friendly gardening isn’t all about using organic chemicals and using cold bath water – it’s about eco thinking too.

Yes, by reducing the chemicals you use and using ‘old’ water – you can make a significant difference to the energy demands of your garden – no matter how simple it is.  However, by thinking ahead you can reduce these even further without too much effort!

Just as an overflowing desk results in lower output and the fridge at the wrong temperature wastes food – a plant in the wrong place or with too many other plants around it can be a waste too!

Try planting 10 healthy plants into the same pot.  Even if you water them properly and they are all in the right light – they won’t all grow.  Plants have requirements just like people, food, animals and the Earth – so find out what they like best and you are on to a winner!

photo credit: brockvicky

Good Plant Husbandry:
Here are some simple things to consider with your garden – whether it’s existing or you are planning for the spring. 

A few minutes now can save a lot of time next year – for example with having to re-pot a fast growing plant, water a plant in direct sunshine more, treat a sick plant for disease, increase feeding for plants in the wrong soil etc.  It’s all your time wasted – and its wasted energy and resources too! So;

1) Plant the right plant in the right place according to it’s needs – not where it ‘looks best’!  If you don’t have space in direct sunlight for your sunflowers – then don’t plant them this year – plant something less sunshine dependant instead.

2) Use mulch to prevent splashing onto delicate foliage – not only will this make ornamental plants last longer by increasing the time the leaves are beautiful – but it reduces the water needs of the ground and will offer a haven for helpful invertebrates in your garden. 

3) Plant at ideal distances from other plants to improve ventilation- as every fruit tree grower knows; if you don’t have enough space between branches you will get less fruit in the first place and that any fruit you do grow could rot on the branches anyway!  Just as a crowed train gets sweaty an unhealthy – so do overcrowded plants.  They lose leaves, grow too fast (to try to out compete the neighbouring plants) and are more susceptible to disease.

4) Clear away dead leaves and dying plants when spotted- as the decaying matter can harbour fungus, encourage unwanted insects to the area and get to damp over the winter.  Rotten or dead leaves can be good for composting or mulching – but not while attached to the live plant!  Damp and disease can spread up the dying leaf from contact with the ground and infect or damage the healthy part of the plant in the same way that your arm in a bowl of cold water could make the rest of your body catch a chill! 

And, organic waste can be harmful too! Fallen leaves should be composted rather than left on garden plants as they can stain or damage flowering plants. Yes they are all over woodlands – but trees dont usually have leaves at ground level! A even grass cuttings can be a problem for certain plants as large amounts of cuttings can alter the ph of the soil – and could put certain plants under too much stress as a result – so make sure you are not going to imbalance your soils if growing delicate plants.

5) Keep land and paths even to prevent puddles and flooding- by decreasing the chances of surface water collecting in your garden, you are increasing the chances of this ‘free’ water being used by your plants rather than evaporating away!  Also, puddles forming in badly draining soil could in fact rot your plants where they sit!  Either way – make sure that you watch the way the water flows when you water the plants yourself, and aim to ‘fix’ any areas that hold water for any length of time before there is a real rainstorm!

6) Prune and shape plants well to maximise their growth and appearance – by knowing how each plant likes to grow and being aware of it’s ‘mature’ shape, your pruning could help it to grow more efficiently.  If your plant wants to grow in a ball and you keep trimming it in a square – you could be causing the plant to use more nutrients from the soil to keep throwing out new shoots all the time.  If you want a square plant – then try to plant one of them instead to save time and retain the nutrients in the ground! 

Also, if you grow a plant for it’s flowers – then make sure that you have pruned the stems and shoots to offer the most flower heads on stems that can actually support the fully developed flowers in the first place!  Imagine after several months of growing the flowers – they are too big and make the plant droop, or the stems to snap under the extra weight of a huge dahlia or something!

7) Learn which plants are invasive or likely to grow faster than others - this will help you do be quite ruthless with the pruning and planning for next year.  It means that you can plan to keep them in check during the growing season so as not to cover over or crowd and annual plants; let them grow more over the winter to cover more ground; or remove them completely if they take too much time to control or they are actually a ‘pest’ species that are sprouting up new plants from the cuttings – like buddleia or bindweed!

Planning ahead is always great for eco thinking!

Are you up to the challenge – to live on a £1 a day? – she says….

Basically this book explains how the author decided to try to live on just a £1 a day for an entire year to save money for her sisters wedding.

And to prove it, she details every little penny she saves and how she does it.  From stealing food out of bins, to hand delivering Christmas cards, and from attending free events at the library for free drinks to hitch-hiking and wild camping!

The Book Itself:
Reading the book is very easy indeed as her writing style flows nicely – however, I did have some issues with the way she did things that really aren’t suitable for everyone.

She also listed endless ways in which she saved money – but not all were very good for the environment – such as ordering free samples of everything she could to use for herself and to give away as presents – as these small products use a huge amount of packaging in relation to the product within.

However, she did use an awful lot of great techniques that can’t do you any harm, like eating less, wasting less and buying reduced price food every day from your local stores.  She also raised a fair amount of money by simply finding it on the floor!  And many of her eco friendly tips can be put into practice immediately!

Attending all the free events did have the role of extra socialising and supporting local businesses and events – but was perhaps somewhat selfish in the fact that she would never join their club/gym/mailing list – she just wanted a warm room and free drinks (probably in disposable plastic cups).

The Author helps to explain how to get things for free – but this started to lean towards the ‘money saving at someone else’s expense’ rather than ‘homesteading and being frugal’! 

She also didn’t take into account any of her normal running costs like rent, bills and running the washing machine (although she was happy to discuss that washing clothes more often extended their lifespan – although how she thought that it washed for free I’m not sure!).  So, her money saving stopped at not spending it rather than saving it from other ‘leaky’ areas – like energy loss.

I totally agree that we can do a certain amount of things for less money – and we can certainly cut down on the amount of things that we buy and therefore waste – but maybe setting such a tight budget was unreasonable in an eco friendly sense. 

Result: 3/5
Although this book was a great read – and I did enjoy her tales and adventures – it is not really that eco friendly: hence the average score. For a general read it would get 4/5, but we are not here for just that – we are here to get eco friendly help and advice and I found myself arguing a bit with her over some of her thinking!

She still uses resources that use up a lot of energy throughout her ‘budget’ year – she just doesn’t pay for them! And in fact a lot of the things she gets for free are ‘trail size’ so are infact less eco friendly in the scheme of things. She also lives a life that is very dependant on others.

She didn’t think about growing her own food or making her own clothes, she just turned up at free local events and ate their food! She used the ‘free’ computers in the library (so the library pays), read endless books while sitting in book shops (ie brand new not paid for books that she put back on the shelf after reading) and still used her washing machine with impunity (well, she’s not ‘spending’ the money in cash – it comes out of her bank account invisibly)!

Trying to find ways to be eco friendly can indeed save you money – but money-saving actions are not necessarily eco friendly – and this book proves it!

ISBN: 978-1-906593-12-4

Lighting your home for low energy consumption is an important part of modern eco living.

But don’t forget that it is also very important for all your other hoursehold activities too - like reading, entertaining and general safety.  So do think about these when trying to change your lighting for the better.

If you don’t plan for the correct number of light fixtures in your rooms – or bulb brightness; then you may end up having to make adaptations to the room, or changing room uses – which could all be avoided with better planning.

For example, if the lights are not bright enough in your lounge, you may want to read and use your laptop in the kitchen instead, where seating is usually more uncomfortable - and you may have to keep moving out of the way for others to eat.  And why heat the front room if noone ever really uses it anyway?

But then what if your kitchen is open plan to the hall, the stairs or the conservatory – heating that space is going to cost you more money and energy than having fitted a suitable light in the lounge in the first place!

No Need To Compromise:
Planning for a greener home doesn’t mean you have to ask for less stylish fittings - and you can still take advantage of contemporary designs like modern alessi Designs or AXO’s avant-garde approach in your home.  ‘Eco Friendly’ doesn’t have to mean ‘boring’ – just plan ahead and choose the eco options where possible, for example fittings that work with low energy bulbs and lighting that makes a room in your home fit for the purpose you want to use it for. 

I mean, you can still have glitz and glamour in your home – but make sure it is with a purpose: like some delicate chandelier lighting in the dining room!  If you have a dining room that you want to glam up for special occasions – then go for it!  Energy-efficient light bulbs can be used for most fittings these days – and you still get to enjoy that special treat for yourself without having just a boring single lampshade in your room!

And, as you use it regularly for entertaining – it will be fit for purpose and so make better use of that space, those fittings and your energy choices.  It can also help to keep that room ‘kid free’ so it stays as a special place for grown-ups or special events.

Planning Ahead For A Night In:
Another idea is to have 2 sets of independent lights in a room – for 2 different purposes.  Take your lounge: day to day living for the family, or quiet night in for the grown-ups? 

If you are like me and want the lounge only lit with low light while watching an evening movie – then consider a pendant light – or three.  Rather than leaving the bright kitchen or hall way lights on to create that ambiance; why not light the room with low wattage (and low energy) tiny lights – maybe with colored covers for some warmth. 

And don’t forget – keeping the lighting in the room you are actually in means you can close the door and keep the warmth inside in the winter – rather than it all leaking out of the open hallway door!

So, plan ahead – way ahead – and make sure that the time and energy you spend on planning your new light fittings will fit with your hopes and uses for each room. 

No more having to sit somewhere stupid just because it’s brighter, no more having to move the furniture around to fit in a new lamp – and of course no more compromise on having an eco friendly house!

We bulk buy products to be eco friendly – so does a bigger house give the same benefits?

We’ll not if you are just a single person or a couple – but what if you involved the whole family or some friends?  And I don’t mean join some commune or hippy campsite – although they are both options for some people.

What I am talking about is a great idea for saving energy, combining skills and resources as well as improving everything else ‘in bulk’.  So how about it?

The Theory:
I would love to live in a large home surrounded by land – but I know this would be a bit selfish in the overall scheme of things – so how about a compromise?

How about planning to live in a house with other people, whether they be my mum or sibling – or even friends – And it doesn’t need to be as bad as it sounds: you would plan to buy a property that still allowed you your privacy, for example a 3 story town house, divided into 2 sections or a detached property with a ‘granny annexe’ as part of it.

This way, you can pool resources too, like a joint investment in a garden allotment, solar panels, wildlife garden etc, as not only will you have more combined finances with this arrangement – you will also have a larger amount of space to work with.

2 couples living in townhouses may only have a small courtyard garden and a thin sliver of the terraced roof – but combine those 2 mortgages or using a larger deposit could mean you are able to buy detached, with more garden, off road parking, fruit trees, a larger roof and less overheads: only 1 TV license, one Council Tax, lower energy costs (the first so-many units are higher priced), lower food costs (buying in bulk), the list goes on……

It has all the same advantages as buying a 2 litre bottle of shampoo rather than 4x500ml bottles – but on a much larger scale!

Other Benefits:
For starters, all the maintenance costs will be shared between you all, insurance bills and repairs will all be halved – so more money to spend on green investments.

The security of your home will be increased as when you are away, the other people will probably still be around – and the animals and plants can carry on growing while you are busy.

Magazine subscriptions can be shared, and days out can be treated as ‘family’ tickets as there will always be enough people to make up the numbers! Less cars even, depending on your situation – and more shared journeys – or less journeys even; well if you are going to the store – then your flatmates don’t need to!

Food should never go out of date if there are twice as many people around to eat it – and if you ook together then imagine the energy savings!  And there will always be enough dirty dishes to fill the machine – and clothes for a full wash!

And can you imagine how great it would be for the kids to grow up in a friendly environment where they can learn skills from all the people around them, and live in an house with a bit of character and a large garden with chickens in it!

Sounds perfect – I just need to find some similar-minded friends…………

All around me I see baby trees that are never going to become beautiful oaks or great maples!

In lawns, grass verges, church yards and driveways, I see little trees that have spent all winter putting all their effort into growing – only to be guaranteed to last only a short time more.

With the closing in of the lawn mower season – many of these little survivors will have their tops cut off and live no more!  Yet more can be found growing in ridiculous spots – like a crack in the concrete or up against your home – and will never be allowed to grow to full size!

But, you can help them!  You could give a tree a helping hand – in the same way that we need them to clean our air and feed and protect our wildlife in return.  And it won’t cost you a penny – nature has given you them for free!

So why not move them to a better place while why they are still only tiny, and give them a better chance at growing up!

But How Do I know What A Baby Tree Looks Like?
Luckily for you, spotting a baby tree is so very easy as they nearly all look virtually identical at the moment – growing about an inch or two high out of the grass – see the picture below:

All baby trees grow these same 2 leaves as their first leaves so once you have seen one you will know what they all look like!

It’s only the following set of leaves that are the same shape as their adult leaves – so in a way it is sometimes a little surprise to find out what it is exactly that you have saved!

It could be a mighty oak, a quivering willow or a festive holly tree – but either way – it is a tree that now stands a much better chance of survival if you move it to a flower border, by your hedge or wherever.  As long as it’s not on the lawn!

Watch Them Grow:
Now don’t worry about there being too many trees in your garden if you save them all, as these little babies take years before they will affect your garden – and many of them will become lunch for bunnies and deer or die naturally.

And it will take something like an oak about 30/40 years before it’s big enough for you to climb!  However, they could make a great hedge to make your garden more secluded.

Some of these trees will be smaller trees anyway, like holly, and so will actually look great as they grow up - as well as feeding the winter wildlife!

Maybe take photos of them growing over the years to see your work being rewarded.  And pictures of their first leaves can help you to identify them – and maybe help you decide where the best spot to move them to is.  

I mean, you wouldn’t want a great pine tree right next to the house, and a holly bush close to a path or garden bench could be quite uncomfortable! But an elderberry tree could be great near the kitchen to make some great summer drinks!

Have fun saving your free trees – and our environment!