Yes, it’s true; I won Stuart’s garden photo competition. Yay, lucky me! Thankfully he gave a few clues or else I never would have guessed that the photo was of Mahallat Spring Garden in Iran. I have never been there but would love to go one day.

The competition got me thinking about all the well known gardens I have visited. I do love gardening but also visiting beautiful gardens. Here is a list of the famous gardens and parks which I have seen first hand (and can remember).

• Kings Park and Botanic Gardens (I’m from Perth so what do you expect)
• Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne (I used to live in Melbourne)
• Fitzroy Gardens – Melbourne
• The Domain – Sydney (I briefly lived in Sydney)
• Hyde Park – Sydney
• Sydney’s Royal Botanic Gardens
• Singapore Botanic Gardens
• Central Park – New York City
• Hyde Park – London (Yep, I lived there too. In London that is, not Hyde Park)
• Regent’s Park – London (The prettiest garden in London in my opinion)
• Villa Borghese – Rome (Hope to live in Rome one day)
• Villa Gamberaia – Florence (Applied for a job there, didn’t get it but beautiful garden)
• Park Guell – Barcelona (Unusual)
• Muntanya de Montjuic – Barcelona (The most beautiful area in Barcelona)

 I lived in Paris for a couple of years so I discovered many beautiful gardens and parks in Paris while there.

• Jardin du Luxembourg – Paris (The most beautiful garden in Paris)
• Park Monceau – Paris (A close second behind the Jardin du Luxembourg)
• Palais Royal – Paris
• Jardin des Plantes – Paris
• Jardin des Tuileries – Paris
• Jardin du Place des Vosges – Paris
• Various gardens in Levallois – Just outside of Paris
• The garden at the Rodin Museum – Paris
• Gardens at the Chateau de Versailles (Not to be missed)
• Monet’s Garden – Giverny (Also, not to be missed)

I’m sure there are plenty more which have slipped my mind. Now, what can I get with my $50 gift certificate? I’m thinking to get another organic gardening book and maybe one on eco friendly cleaning and right now I’m thinking of getting one on beautiful gardens around the world. I’m sure I can find something appropriate at Amazon.

One way to reduce our impact on the environment is simply to buy less. It makes sense to think twice before buying things; to ask ourselves whether or not we really need an item. This can help us to save money as well as the environment. However, it is not realistic to think that we can reduce environmental damage by getting people to reduce their spending and consumption. It’s good to encourage less consumption but the fact is people like to buy new things. They want to buy new clothes, cosmetics, homewares, and cars.

What I try to do is make the best choices most of the time. So while I don’t always buy organic food or have a hybrid car, I do buy organic food most of the time and drive a small car which doesn’t use a lot of petrol.

When buying clothes, I try to buy items which have been manufactured in a way which is less damaging for the environment. I think the following points are worth considering when buying clothing.

Buy Locally

Buying clothing which has been produced locally reduces transportation costs as well as supporting the local economy.

Buy Organic Cotton Clothing

Conventional cotton farms use huge amounts of pesticides which pollutes the soil and waterways as well as damaging the health of farm workers. Organic cotton farms are far less damaging on the environment.

Buy Bamboo Clothing

Bamboo is a renewable resource which is produced without the use of pesticides. It is easy to grow and quick to grow. Bamboo produces soft, durable clothing in a sustainable, eco friendly manner.

Hemp Clothing

Hemp fabric has improved significantly in recent years. Hemp clothing is soft, of high quality, and its production has few negative impacts on the environment.

Buy Wool Clothing

Wool is a renewable resource which requires less processing than cotton. Wool is an excellent fibre for producing clothes. Organic wool is now available which focuses on the health of the sheep and producing wool without using chemicals.

Buy Secondhand Clothing

Buying reused clothes is a great eco friendly option if you don’t mind wearing something which someone else once did. Personally I have never purchased vintage clothing but I know several people who do on a regular basis. Even though I don’t buy second hand clothes, I do give away my own clothes to charities so they can be reused. If you have some high quality clothes which you no longer need you can sell them to second hand stores rather than throwing them away.

You know what the best option for you is. If each of us make better choices, more often, then we will start to reduce our impact on the environment.

Growing a wide variety of plants, such as flowers, shrubs, and trees, will attract a wide range of wildlife to your garden. This will include predatory pests which are the best natural pest control method and is one of the essentials of organic gardening.

Some of these plants will also deter certain pests due to their fragrance. This is the basis of companion planting; grow plants around your fruit and vegetables which repel pests and/or attract predators and pollinators.

A Quick Guide to Companion Planting

This is a quick guide to which companion plants are the most effective at controlling the pests of common vegetables. Aromatic plants deter pests but also disguise the scent of your fruit and vegetables plants. This is why French Marigolds are one of the most effective companion plants for all fruit and vegetables. Other aromatic plants which may be effective are listed below.

Companion Plants for Beans

• carrots
• celery
• corn
• most herbs
• potatoes
• strawberries

Companion Plants for Cabbage, Cauliflower, and Broccoli

• beetroot
• celery
• dill
• garlic
• nasturtiums
• onion
• peas
• potatoes

Companion Plants for Capsicum and Chili

• basil
• most other herbs

Companion Plants for Carrots

• chives
• garlic
• leeks
• lettuce
• onions
• peas
• tomatoes

Companion Plants for Corn

• beans
• peas
• potatoes

Companion Plants for Fruit Trees

Ensure fruit trees are well established and fruiting before you plant companion plants. This is to prevent the companion plants from competing with the trees for light and nutrients. Some of the best companion plants for fruit trees are:

• chives
• garlic
• lavender
• nasturtiums
• rosemary
• sage
• thyme

Companion Plants for Garlic and Onion

• beetroot
• lettuce
• strawberries
• tomatoes

Companion Plants for Leeks

• carrots
• celery
• onions

Companion Plants for Lettuce

• carrots
• radish
• strawberries

Companion Plants for Peas

• beans
• carrots
• corn
• potatoes
• turnips

Companion Plants for Potatoes

• beans
• broccoli
• cabbage
• cauliflower
• corn
• peas

Companion Plants for Tomatoes

• asparagus
• basil
• broccoli
• carrots
• cauliflower
• garlic
• onion
• oregano
• parsley
• thyme

It is important to note that the benefits of companion planting have not been proven. It’s hard to say how many companion plants are required to be effective and if they are effective at all. However, many gardeners swear by this organic gardening technique and I think planting a wide variety of plants is always going to be beneficial to an organic garden.

Bamboo is a natural, renewable, easily sustainable, environmentally friendly resource which is generally grown without the use of pesticides, herbicides, and other synthetic chemicals. It can be made into many products such as:

• bamboo clothing
• bamboo towels and sheets
• bamboo homewares
• bamboo flooring
• bamboo fencing
• bamboo blinds
• bamboo furniture
• bamboo bench tops

It is an attractive product which is easy to find and affordably priced.

Bamboo Flooring

Bamboo flooring has been available in Australia for many years but has only recently started to become popular. Bamboo flooring is stronger, harder, and more durable than almost any other timber flooring.

Environmental Benefits of Bamboo

• Bamboo grows very quickly making it an easily sustainable resource.
• Bamboo is grown without the use of harmful pesticides and fertilisers.
• Bamboo does not require large quantities of water to grow.
• Bamboo plants produce more oxygen than trees.

Advantages of Bamboo Flooring

• Bamboo flooring is harder than most hardwood timber floors.
• Bamboo flooring has a unique grain which is available in many colours.
• Bamboo flooring expands and contracts less than timber floors.
• Bamboo flooring is quick and easy to install.
• Bamboo flooring is allergy free.
• Bamboo flooring is sealed using non toxic glues.
• Bamboo flooring is retardant against termites, moisture, and fire.
• Bamboo flooring is competitively priced.

Disadvantages of Bamboo Flooring

Although many bamboo flooring suppliers claim that bamboo flooring is resistant to fading by sunlight, a report by CHOICE magazine suggests that the colour of bamboo timber tends to darken over time, when exposed to direct sunlight. However, this is also the case with other timbers.

Treehugger comments on a report suggesting that planting trees will not prevent climate change in the short term.

A new report from Lawrence Livermore Laboratory suggests that planting a tree does not always provide the climate benefits some might expect. The primary point of the article demonstrates that there are no easy solutions and we need to change the status quo more dramatically then simply planting trees. However, as we have seen in previous posts (here, here, here…and more) planting trees as an offsetting strategy or a carbon sink is a contentious issue. Click through for a quick review of what the science is telling us.

The new model shows that trees planted in the northern climates may actually increase local warming by up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit, temperate forests have no net impact, and tropical forests are still the favorite carbon-sequestering environment. While this is an interesting result, it is important to keep in mind the more complex interactions trees and forests have with their environment. Just recently, a report in the prestigious peer reviewed journal ‘Science’ demonstrated that temperate forests are better long term carbon sinks then anyone had previously thought. The waxy carbon of the plants is maintained in the forests soil for 10,000 to 100,000 years. That is a large carbon sink.

Planting trees today might not have a large short-term effect on reducing greenhouse gas, as recent evidence suggests, we are experiencing accelerating CO2 emissions despite current strategies. But, a healthy ecosystem, including forest canopy, may provide other benefits, such as long term carbon sinks in the soil. There is no single solution to global warming. Increasingly it appears that planting trees is not a good strategy to offset carbon emission within a relevant period of time. The environmental benefits of trees are manifold, but they are only human plants- they can’t do everything.

I think it’s obvious that attempts to curb climate change will not have any affect in the immediate future. The problem of global warming due to greenhouse gas emissions hasn’t happened overnight so we clearly can’t fix the problem overnight. We need to implement long term solutions. Planting millions or billions of trees will surely have some impact on reducing the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. One day. This is obviously not the solution to our environmental problems but it is one simple thing which we can do today.

It’s also important to remember that there are many other benefits to planting trees. Forests:

• provide a habitat for native animals
• encourage a diverse range of species
• reduce soil degradation and erosion
• retain water
• prevent soil salinity

So yes, planting a few trees won’t do too much but planting billions over the coming years and reducing the number we cut down will help.

Hemp has many uses such as hemp insulation, hemp clothing, food, hemp based paint, and as a cooking oil. Hemp is very beneficial to the environment. It helps eliminate deforestation because it produces four times as much paper as trees and grows much faster.

Once of the least known uses of hemp fibre is for building insulation, as seen at Thermo Hemp. Hemp insulation is:

Environmentally Friendly

Thermo-Hemp is free from all polluting additives which rules out all risk to health in both the production of the insulation & the fitting of the end product. Because the material is recyclable there are no problems when it comes to the disposal of the material after use.

Versatile Product

Thermo-Hemp is available in both Mat & Roll form & is suitable for use in roofs, walls & floors. Thermo-Hemp performs equally well in both existing & new build. The natural versatility offered by Thermo-Hemp makes do-it-yourself installation easy to achieve. In addition, Thermo-Hemp has excellent insulation properties.

Easy to Work With

Thermo-Hemp has many natural advantages which makes it an excellent construction material. It is a very clean material to work with, with very little dust generated as the product is being installed. This also means that it can be easily tolerated when in contact with unprotected skin.

I don’t have too much information on hemp but it’s something I’ll be looking into in the future. I’ll be on the lookout for some hemp clothing to see what that is like as a product. Leave a comment if you can recommend some hemp clothing stores or some other uses for hemp.

The Nature Conservancy has listed 9 simple energy and climate saving tips. They are all good tips but I’ve selected the top five with my comments included.

5 Tips to Save Energy and Fight Climate Change

1. Travel Light
   Leave the car at home and walk or ride your bike instead. If you live too far from work for either of those options then take public transport. If that’s too hard then at least car pool. Even if you take one of these options just once or twice per week then you’ll make a difference.
2. See the Light
   As the bulbs in your home blow, replace them with compact fluorescent light bulbs. They use significantly less energy and are much cheaper in the long run. For more information read this article.
3. Recycle and Use Recycled Products
   It’s easy to recycle in Australia as we have special bins designated for that exact purpose. If you don’t have a recycling bin at your place of work then introduce one. Don’t forget to recycle your mobile phone when you buy a new one.
4. Inflate Your Tires
   Something as simple as inflating the tires of your car can make a big difference to your fuel consumption. It is recommended that you check the level of your tires every month. Here are a few more tips on efficient driving and reducing your fuel consumption.
5. Act Globally Eat Locally
   Try to buy locally produced food as often as possible. This saves on transportation which saves energy. There are many farmers’ markets around Australia where you can buy fresh, organic, and locally produced fruit and vegetables.

Bamboo towels are so soft it’s amazing. I bought a small bamboo hand towel just to try it out and I love it. I now intend to get a whole set. There are a number of shops around Australia where you can buy bamboo towels or you can buy them online.

Why Bamboo Towels?

There are a number of reasons why you might choose bamboo towels over organic or regular cotton towels.

1. Bamboo towels are organic as they are grown without the use of pesticides and herbicides.
2. Bamboo fabric is naturally antibacterial.
3. Bamboo fabric is naturally hypoallergenic.
4. Bamboo towels are quick to absorb moisture.
5. Pure bamboo towels can dry twice as fast as cotton.
6. Bamboo is a sustainable resource.
7. Bamboo plants produce more oxygen than trees.

Buy Bamboo Towels Online

If you want to buy bamboo towels, we recommend Shirts of Bamboo. The quality is good and so is their service. You can ask any questions you may have about their products by emailing them or by posting your question in their forum. You can also use their forum to find out what other customers have said about their products.

The Shirts of Bamboo towels are not 100% bamboo. They are 70% bamboo and 30% organic cotton. They are available in numerous colours including a natural bamboo towel which has not been bleached or dyed.

Shirts of Bamboo also sell bamboo wash cloths and bamboo bath robes. Visit Shirts of Bamboo for more information.

Urban Baby is one of Australia’s top online retailers specialising in baby clothes. They have a great organic range which you can read about here.

If you want to buy organic cotton baby clothes as a Christmas gift, there is still time as UrbanBaby is upgrading all standard delivery charges to express delivery, at no extra cost.

Check out their organic cotton baby range and see if there is anything you like before heading over to their site.

After writing a brief post about Ekoni the other day, they were kind enough to make a digital Buy Organic Christmas Card. The card is for you so click on the link below to view it. It’s pretty cool so go on, have a look.

View your Christmas card here.

As part of their service, a tree will be planted in the UK, making it an eco friendly way to send Christmas cards or any cards for that matter.

Merry Christmas!