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Conventional wisdom says that organic gardening is a simple process wherein one just plants seeds and for it to grow to its potential, fertilizers are put around the area and pesticides are used to brush off annoying insects that may storm the garden. However, organic gardening is more than a step-by-step process; it is a science and even an art by itself, with myriad ways to let the plant flourish and it is always scrutinized by millions of scientists around the world to ensure safety and efficiency of the gardens growth.

Also, common wisdom says that organic gardening simply involves a plough and a rake. In fact, it can be as high-tech as the newly released cellular phone. This agricultural art utilizes many things like rotary tillers, synthesized fertilizers and even biodegradable pesticides. With all the wonderful inventions for gardening, it seems as if its possibilities for growth are limitless and the dream of the disappearance of famine and hunger will soon be reachable.

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Read the rest of What Is Organic Gardening? at Suburban Ecology

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Post tags: Garden, Home, Organic, Organic horticulture

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Are Bamboo Floors Ecologically Friendly?

Bamboo floors. We’re not talking about some uneven, bumpy tiki-lounge decor here — we’re talking about a manufactured product much like our familiar hardwood flooring that comes in tongue and groove planks. Only bamboo flooring is not made from trees like oak or pine or maple — bamboo flooring is made from grass, the woody shoots of bamboo to be specific.

Except for the grain, bamboo flooring materials can be made to look very much like the hardwood materials they are meant to replace. They typically come in light colors resembling beech and dark colors resembling oak. Because darker bamboo flooring goes through a process called carbonization that partially breaks down the bamboo, dark bamboo floors are somewhat less durable than light bamboo. Manufacturers put bamboo through an intensive process to make it into ready-to-install tongue-and-groove strips. The process begins with the removal of knots from harvested bamboo stalks. Then the manufacturer sorts the bamboo stalks by size and splits them in order to attain a uniform raw material ready for further processing.

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Read the rest of Bamboo Flooring at Suburban Ecology

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© Rick for Suburban Ecology, 2008. | Permalink | No comment

Post tags: Bamboo, Bamboo floor, Floor, Floors and Flooring, Wood flooring

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Compact fluorescent light bulbs, those spiral bulbs that give off the same amount of light as conventional incandescent tungsten bulbs for a fraction of the energy-cost, are great. In the long run, they can lower your energy bills. Though they’re somewhat less efficient than tubular fluorescent bulbs found in office buildings and schools, because compact fluorescents fit into standard light fixtures the associated convenience outweighs the loss, and CFL bulbs have become almost ubiquitous in homes.

CFL Drawbacks And Options

Some of the drawbacks with CFLs are:

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Read the rest of CFL Mercury, The Hidden Home-buying Hazard at Suburban Ecology

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When I submitted a request for funds for my landscaping project to Prosper, one lender had a very interesting question. I considered it carefully, and then discovered my ultimate answer was far too long for Prosper’s format. I shortened my answer, but the lender who asked decided not to fund the loan request.

I can’t help but think the problem was that I could not fully answer, given Prosper’s constraints.

My loan request:

Read the rest of Let’s fix up this desperate landscape: My Prosper Loan Request 1

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© Rick for Suburban Ecology, 2008. | Permalink | No comment

Post tags: greenscaping, native plants, tall grass prairie

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If you’re serious about cutting your home energy costs, you might want to take a second look at your home landscaping. You may not be aware of it, but energy-efficient home landscaping can reduce your household’s energy consumption for heating and cooling by as much as 25 percent. Proper placement of trees, shrubs, vines, grasses, and hedges lets you modify the micro-climate around your home to maximize shade during the summer and reduce wind chill during the winter. Energy-efficient home landscaping is one of the best investments you can make, because aside from its potential to increase the resale value of your property, it can generate enough savings to return your initial investment in less than eight years. Therefore, it is not surprising that more homeowners than ever are implementing energy-conserving home landscaping ideas on their property.

Read the rest of Landscaping To Save Energy

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© Rick for Suburban Ecology, 2008. | Permalink | No comment

Post tags: energy conservation, landscaping

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