Green Mermaid Cottage

Now that I finally had my own garden I wanted to make it as welcoming as possible to wildlife, including insects and birds.  PROVIDING FOOD AND WATER FOR BIRDS  I installed a bird bath, bird feeder and a bird house as soon as I could and the previous owner had left a little ‘insect hotel’ which I kept and put on the fence.  SUSTAINABLE GARDENING I never use synthetic pesticides or peat-based compost. Instead I bought organic compost to start with and then made my own using a compost bin.  To try to deal with slugs and snails that targeted my vegetable raised bed, I used slug nematodes with some success.  Slug nematodes are microscopic worms used as an organic, natural pest control. They are safe for pets and wildlife. My longterm plan though is for my pond to attract frogs and toads to contain their numbers. I planted a wide variety of flowers, plants and shrubs to encourage bees and butterflies to visit my garden. Bees and other pollinators will thrive ...

As a vegetarian something I always wanted to do was to grow my own organic vegetables, fruits and cooking herbs. Now that I finally had my own garden I decided to do just that.  'No dig' gardening  I started looking at the easiest way that I could start my vegetable garden as a beginner gardener and I came across the ‘No dig’ method. This method simply means gardening without digging over the plot repeatedly each year, minimising disturbance to the soil.  The steps are:  choose the spot where you want to grow your vegetables remove/smother weeds get some cardboard (I used cardboard boxes from recent postal deliveries and made sure I removed any staples, plastic tape and labels) cover the area of soil where you are planting with layers of cardboard. Make sure you overlap your layers so that weeds have less opportunity to get through in the future Put organic compost on top of your layers of cardboard. That’s it! You are ready to start planting your...

THE 'GREEN TAX'  I decided to start making my own beauty and cleaning products because I simply could not afford to buy the type of products that I wanted in shops.  As an animal lover I only want to use plant-based products that are not tested on animals and preferably organic. I noticed that those type of products are always more expensive and therefore out of my reach.  DROWNING IN PLASTIC In addition I was increasingly bothered by the amount of packaging I was left to dispose of every time I used shop-bought products. I liked the idea of recycling these plastic bottles and glass jars as containers for my own products.  BAD HAIR AND SKIN DAY: ITCHY AND SCRATCHY... I hoped that making my own products would also help me calm my sensitive skin and scalp, made worse by the high levels of stress and anxiety I was experiencing. I even had to see my GP when I woke up covered with red, inflamed, incredibly itchy spots all over my belly, chest and parts of my back. After...