Pesticide Bans – Ontario is the World Leader

Ontario has taken a step toward being the world leader for pesticide regulation. On April 21st, the province released the toughest pesticide ban in the world. The ban included 80 ingredients and 250 products. The products and ingredients on the list can no longer be sold or used for use in home garden care. The ban does not affect pesticide use in farming, forestry and for health reasons.

Safety concerns prompted the ban on pesticides. According to Premier Dalton McGuinty, the safety of children is of primary concern. The ban includes “cosmetic” pesticides which are used to kill pests, weeds and get rid of other problems on private lawns, gardens and school yards. Insecticides, fungicides and herbicides are all part of the new ban.

Pesticides can be used to get rid of dangerous pests, like wasps or mosquitoes carrying West Nile. For other needs, consumers can use bio-pesticides that suffocate the pests or discourage them from attacking plants.

Having a healthy green lawn and a beautiful garden can be easy with a few changes in your habits and gardening techniques. For your lawn, invest in a small weeding tool like a claw and pull weeds by hand when the soil is damp. Overseed the lawn to grow more grass and choke out weeds and be sure to aerate the lawn to keep it healthy. In the garden, use mulch around plants to encourage healthy growth. Copper barriers, cut worm collars and diatomaceous earth can help reduce pests in the garden.

DIY Solar Panels – the Easy Way

The rising cost of energy forcing many to look for other cheaper source of energy. Solar panels offer cheaper alternative source of energy for saving money, cutting the household electricity bills. But the house owners with cash crunch find them beyond their reach when they consider solar panels installed by the professionals.  Of course it may cost you thousands of dollars if the system is installed by professionals. But you can save much, once you learn yourself making solar panels.

You must be thinking it is not that easy! Be sure that it is not so tough; you don’t need an engineering degree or special skill to make solar panels. Anyone can do it, sparing time in their weekends at a fraction of actual cost.

Another privilege of making solar panel is to have control over the size. That is, you make the panels for your simple appliances like TV, coffee maker, DVD player, computer or anything else or for the whole household consumption. You could even run off the grid supply entirely.

The key to make solar panels at home yourself is having a good manual. Once you have one, you will be surprised to find how simple it is.  Most of the things like plywood, glass sheets or copper wire roles you will find with your local hardware stores. It is quite easy to find photovoltaic cells of inexpensive varieties from local shops or over online stores.

Help of a superior quality manual is most important for making solar panel yourself.  It must provide the proper instructions. It should be written in such a way that even if you’re not accustomed to machineries, you can get encouragement with its guidance. So don’t look for cheaper variety, buy the best manual.

In fact the cost of making solar panels is very low when you make it yourself. So the cost of manual should not bother you.

Landscaping Tips to Save Water

While landscaping can really make your house exteriors look great, it can make you water bills shoot up high. This can lead you to question whether you really need that much water. The truth is that you can save a lot of water by making a few simple modifications to your water usage.

Here are a few tips to help you save water with landscaping.

Inefficient watering systems

Everybody wants their piece of automated equipment, whether it is the latest automatic land mower or the modern sprinkler system. Most often these automated sprinklers cause a lot of waste of water.

You might have noticed the water running off the lawn down into the street. This is utter wastage when you need to save water. However, most homeowners who have a landscaping use this kind of inefficient watering systems that causes so much waste. If you can find a good and efficient one then it will save water and prevent wastage.

Find an efficient watering system to suit your needs

You should remember a great thumb rule. It says that the bigger and closer to the ground, the delivered water droplet is, the better it is. Systems that give fine water sprays usually lose most of the water to the wind and evaporation.

You might be surprised to know that a hand held hose is the most efficient way to water, saving as much as 33% water compared to other systems.

Automated systems are no better

You might think that because relying on modern technologies means saving money and time. Well, you need to think again, at least as far as watering systems are concerned.

These automated systems such as the ground sprinklers, in fact use 35% more water while those systems that have an automatic timer to accompany utilise 47% more compared to other places that do not use any of such systems. While these devices keep you under the illusion of saving time, they are actually causing you to spend more.

Add some rain sensors or soil sensors

If you already have some kind of an automated system, then you do not need to throw it out and incur more loss. Instead, add such sensors to your system. This will help the sprinklers to know when the soil is moist enough not to need any watering. Hence, you will end up saving water.

Go for automatic drip irrigation

These systems are more efficient compared to sprinklers and with the sensors they will work even better.

Eco Curtains – Natural or Recycled

Finding eco friendly curtains and draperies can be a challenge when you are renovating with green choices in mind. Many fabrics are made with natural fibers; including linen, cotton, silk, hemp and wool. It may seem your options are limited, but it’s not impossible to find eco curtains. Just avoid anything that is blended with petroleum based fabrics such as polyester, rayon and nylon.

When people think of natural fibers the first to come to mind is usually cotton. You’ll be hard pressed to find all cotton curtains unless they’ve been made for organic or eco purposes. Even if the curtain says it’s 100% cotton, the dye in the fabric and even the flame retardant on the fabric is quite toxic.

Like cotton, linen is also a natural fiber. Linen is more durable than cotton, tends to look more luxurious, but is just as soft and even has a natural luster to it. Natural linen can be found in shades of ivory, ecru, grey or tan. If linen may not have been on your list of  curtain material – think again – linen curtains can be gorgeous window treatments.

Wool is a very interesting fabric with natural antibacterial qualities and is very resistant to flame and static electricity. As a drapery, it is quite durable and will last quite a long time. The quality of wool varies greatly, so if you choose wool as a drapery fabric, make sure to do your homework and inquire about the blends.

If you can’t find a natural fabric for your drapery needs, consider using a recycled material. There are many options for fabrics that are using reclaimed materials instead of new. Whether you go with pre made curtains or choose something more custom made – here’s a great video to help you choose the proper height for your window treatment.

Eco Friendly Bathroom Ideas

When doing a bathroom renovation consider updating more than just the fixtures and colors – go a step further and think about everything else you can change to make your bathroom more eco friendly.

Sustainable Materials

So many things are now being made from sustainable materials and that includes lumber, even cabinetry. You can also choose to buy towels and linens from the very fast growing bamboo tree – bamboo products are incredibly absorbant and have a natural anti-bacterial quality. If the product you seek isn’t eco friendly already, consider recycled materials such as glass and tile. Even a brand new shower enclosure can be showcased with an eco friendly or recycled material shower curtain.

Low Flowing Water

Taps, showerheads and toilets are all available in a low flow option. Low flow showerheads and faucets are easily available – or put in low flow restrictors yourself. If a new toilet isn’t on your budget, you can save 16% on your water bill by simply filling up an empty 4 litre jug (water, juice, milk etc) with water and placing it in the toilet tank. Eco renovations don’t require all new products, sometimes a bit of DIY handiwork goes a long way.

Eco Lighting

Installing compact fluorescent bulbs is the best thing to do for energy saving on lighting in the bathroom. But you could go further and install a skylight for completely natural light. Compact flourescent bulbs are expensive on the intitial purchase – yet use only use 20 to 30% of the power required to use an incandescent light bulb. Compact fluorescent bulbs also last 8 to 15% longer.

Eco Friendly Paint

Take the opportunity to upgrade the color of your bathroom with eco friendly paint. In addition to soy based paints, there are several other choices including; low VOC paints, clay paints, lime(wash) paints, and even milk paints. Ask at your local paint store for information on which paint may work best for you.

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