1. The first thing you need to do is decide where you want your herb garden to be located. An ideal spot would be closest to the kitchen door since this is where you will be using your herbs. This sometimes is not possible due to the fact that your herb garden does need to be in sunlight for at least 4 to 6 hours.

2. Next, you want to decide what herbs you are looking to grow. Depending on the number of herbs you decide to grow will determine how you will design your garden.

3. Designing your garden is the next step. For instance, growing rosemary and lavender can make a very pretty garden as well as calendula and chamomile. A useful tip is to keep the seeds in damp paper towels until they have sprouted, then you plant them.

4. Herbs tend to spread at a quick rate so edging the garden is necessary. This will keep your garden under control.

5. As mentioned above, you will be walking around your garden quite a bit so you will want to put down some type of pathway or stepping stones between your herbs. This will allow you to move between your herbs while harvesting them.

6. You should mulch your herb garden with bark which will save you on the task of weeding. Bark provides for a more attractive looking garden as well.

7. It is not necessary to use rich soil as herbs can grow just fine with average soil. It is important, however, that you keep your soil well drained as herbs do not grow well in very moist conditions.

I am a lazy person, so for me doing extra things to be green was hard. However I have come up with my top ten tips on how to make little changes to your life, which you won’t even notice, but will be of benefit to both the environment and yourself.

1. If you can adjust your heating, try switching it off for the night. You are asleep under a warm duvet anyway, so why waste the power heating up your house/flat when you won’t notice if it is a bit colder?

2. Turn your heating down a few degrees. You won’t notice the difference, but it will save a lot of energy.

3. Change all your lamps to energy efficient ones. Once again, you won’t notice any difference, but the electrcity bill will be significantly reduced, as well as your carbon output.

4. If you have to quickly wash your hands, just use cold water. Hot water takes time to warm up before you can feel the difference, and most likely you would have switched the tap off by the time it is noticeably warm anyway. So not switching it on at all will not make any difference, but it will save energy.

5. Don’t boil more water than you need in a kettle. If you are only going to have one cup of tea, why spend the energy to warm up five cups worth of water?

6. Switch your electronics off at the plug when you are not using them. Even on stand by most electronic equipment, such as the telly or the stereo, use up to 2/3 of the energy they would use if they were on!

7. If you ride a bike on shorter journeys instead of driving, it will not only help the environment, but you will become healtheir as well.

8. Instead of driving to a supermarket to do your shopping, order your food online. The can delivering your food will be more carbon efficient as it will be delivering to many other customers at the same time.

9. Take showers instead of baths. Not only will you save water, you will also be massaged by the shower while you are relaxing.

10. Use a kettle to boil water for your washing up. It is more energy efficient than your heater system.

If you really want to make a difference, then one of the biggest effect you can have is to encourage your place of work to get a energy specialist in. Enigin PLC are a specialist company which has saved massive amount of resources and money for hundreds of companies all over the world.

When will it stop?! Our society wastes an unbelievable amount of things and I do not see this ever ending! Every month there is a new technology, new televisions new I-something or other and all the while our dumps get filled with electrical goods that are still fully functional, however are totally useless in our society that is totally obsessed with having the biggest, the best and the most expensive gadgets in order to make other people feel inadequate. Do people not realise that this stuff is not real? You do not need these things to live a fulfilling life, try having a conversation with someone or going to the park or on holiday without your ipod, ipad, iphone, mac etc…It is very refreshing and a lot more rewarding to have a relationship with another human being than with some form of a machine. It started with television and radio and now its snowballed out of control. However I fear people will wake up to this far too late. I do not understand why people fail to learn from previous mistakes we have made. Why do people insist on ruining what we have left of this beautiful earth, do they not realise if they continue they will destroy what we have. The earth is already starting to fall apart and all we can do is buy the latest television and watch it happen on the news in between adverts of how to get rid of our unwanted acne scars. If people spent half the money, time and effort caring about the world as opposed to gadgets then we might have a chance to turn this whole thing around…however the sad fact is I can not see this happening.

I grew up eating vegetables fresh from the garden, fresh honey from my father’s beehives and eggs from kept chickens. Yes I lived a privileged up bringing where my parents had the knowledge and skills to do these things, however it is not a difficult thing to pick up.

I have recently moved in with three friends and am appalled at the amount of energy, food and water they waste. Putting washes on at 40 degrees and always using the drier, even though it is the middle of summer. Never using left over food up, just throwing it in the bin and leaving lights on all over the flat.

I am currently growing vegetables in the garden to try and enforce a little eco-power in to the flat (if you want some great energy saving tips by the way, have a look at the Enigin PLC company blogs), but I have just been given a massive wake up call as to how clueless my generation is!

We were not taught about how we affect the globe with every action we have, or how to grow vegetables. Most of the people I know my age don’t know how to cook and couldn’t imagine hand washing any clothes.

This is a disgrace and MUST change. Some schools and organisations are beginning to wake up to that fact that they have to teach children about environmental studies. But its too little, this needs to be done on a wider scale and the government and local councils need to think of ways of getting through to young adults who have left full time education.

Unfortunately there are a limited amount people like myself can do!

Resorting to green energy can solve a lot of problems. Yes, it is true that one cannot directly shift to this form of energy immediately, since all the present work infrastructure was planned around fossil fuels as the primary source of energy. We can however plan for the future ahead and make arrangements to shift to green energy in a phased manner. We can start by installing self sustaining solar lighting kits at new places or by replacing old installations. We can even use wind mills and harness the energy from it by using the same for many other purposes. Even you can use big reflectors to concentrate sun’s energy on material to melt them or use the high heat for other purposes. There are many innovations and ideas around green energy. The only thing that is required is proper planning and implementations.

If you want to harness the potential of green energy, but feel that you do not have the resources or the required expertise to use such things, you can always go to specialized agencies. They will help you to plan and sort out the things for you, so that you get a good kick start. If you are still confused, a little search on the internet will help you to clear your doubts easily. Representatives of the specialized agencies will come to you and get all your requirements and suggest what is best for you. They will even help your set up and find sources for procurement of the needed infrastructure.

Just remember that at times you may feel that you are spending a lot on these things, but keep this in mind that green energy is the future and is inevitable. So, starting early will help you to get more from it and later when it will be used by others, you will already have expertise in doing what they are new at. Adopting green energy is definitely the need of the day.

Going green can seem like the new religion, maybe it is, like religions it has ’rules'and like all religions, these rules can vary from extremely strict to positive guidelines to living an ethical lifestyle. As somebody who has been involved in the environmental movement, I think the best way forward is to make some clear shifts in the way we live our daily lives.

1. travel slow: change the way you schedule your day, your weekend and your holidays, so you don’t need to make quick trips and you won’t need to use cars and airplanes.
2. travel with others: understand that travelling alone is decadence, like eating a triple rich chocolate fudge ice cream sundae. If you do it regularly you will be unhealthy and obese. As a way of life use public transportation of any sort. And if you are a lone cyclist, support public transport because it will take those pesky cars off of the road.
3. throw out your electric kettle: just throw it out, enough said.
4. eat with the seasons: we don’t need strawberries in the winter, eating with the seasons, inherently reduces the need for air freighting and storage.
5. eat low on the food chain: foods closest to their natural state take less energy to produce, I hate to suggest it, but rice instead of pasta, and fresh vegetables, instead of tinned bins reduces the need for factories to supply our everyday needs.
6. eat local: whenever you have a chance choose foods that are grown, raised, or produced as close as possible to where you live
7. become an activist: write letters and encourage your friends and family to take a stand on ethical issues
8. become part of a re-using network: make friends who have children both younger and older than yours so passing things on is a natural part of your life style.
9. take direct action: protest local polluters, help shut down a power plant, there is nothing more empowering
10. share: news, education, information, surplus resources, food, childcare, your refrigerator, it helps breakdown the mind set that created the environmental catastrophe in the first place

Mornings are hard enough without having to think about your carbon footprint, but it is shocking how our small habits add up, and simple changes in the way you start your day can help save the planet. I started thinking about the effect that I was leaving on the planet when I started to read the enigin PLC blogs. Which are really accounts of their employees daily lives, and the day to day tips they use to combate personal carbon footprints.

I know by now, most people turn the tap off when they clean their teeth. Growing up, we never thought about it, and I have had to train my husband to do this simple task. Its a good idea to remind friends and colleagues as well that there is no need to run the water while cleaning their teeth. In the UK people are particularly attached to their electric kettles. While there are a whole range of new appliances that can help you reduce the impact of this electricity hog, the best option is simply to ditch it. Electric heating elements consume a lot of ’juice’, but what makes them particularly bad is their inefficiency. According to Greenpeace UK by the time electricity reaches our house “we’ve lost nearly 80 per cent of the usable energy inside the fossil fuels we burn.”

Simply switching to a hob kettle to heat your water, and putting your toast under the grill instead of in the toaster will reduce the impact of your morning routine on global warming. I have gotten particularly accurate at figuring out just how much water I need to fill the cafetiere, usually with nary a drop to spare. When my sister celebrated her 21st birthday by proving that a watched pot will actually boil, but now that it is proven, you don’t have to do it. I promise you will be entirely surprised at how fast your porridge pot will boil if you put the lid on!

Gardening can actually be considered as one of the best hobbies ever. The main reason behind this is the amount of satisfaction that it provides to the person engaging in this activity. People who like gardening enjoy the idyllic moments spent in looking after plants and flowers. However, if you are a beginner and unsure about how to get started then here are a few gardening tips.

You can start by planting tomatoes as it is the most common planted vegetable and can also be easily taken care of (not to mention tastes great in these chicken recipes). But, try to make sure that the tomatoes are partially grown tones, if you have just started the tomato garden. You need to be attentive about the exact spot where you plan to do tomato gardening. Choose an area that gets plenty of sunlight. Check if there is enough soil to cover the plants. You must not forget to water them regularly and especially when the days are hotter.

A newbie gardener can also start planting flower bulbs. These can be easily managed and also grow faster. It requires a good location and enough soil. The planting bed can be prepared by using a little bit of fertilizer. It is quite an easy method but the real challenge lies in making the flower bed grow, and this can be done only with regular care.

Gardening is an excellent hobby and therapeutic for a lot of people who are going through trauma and pain, and even otherwise Young children can also be benefited from it as they can learn to take care of living things. So, go ahead and enjoy your gardening moments. It can be quite a worthwhile experience.

Many gardens are grown using the harmful pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilizers. These types of chemicals can be harmful to your health. Organic gardening allows you to grow those fresh veggies without the use of these harmful chemicals. This is not only healthier for your body but also provides your body with essential vitamins and minerals that are depleted through the use of chemicals.

Some tips to follow when growing your own organic garden are:

Spend a little time each day in your garden. This can be only 10 minutes a day, but it is well worth it. During this time, you can weed, water and tend to your garden keeping it alive and fresh. It isn’t hard to keep a garden looking good, you just need to get used to the time management of it.

Use natural rainwater versus tap water which contains chlorine and other chemicals. Purchase barrels that you will use to collect rainwater to use in addition to regular rainfall. This is not only better for your organic garden, but it also conserves on water usage.

Use only natural fertilizers such as manure or compost. Many fertilizers contain some sort of chemical, so be sure if you are using store bought “natural fertilizer”you check it’s ingredients. Aside from manure and compost, kitchen waste can be used as well which is easily recycled into the earth and provides your garden with essential nutrients.

Be sure to rotate your crops on a yearly basis. This will control borne pests and certain disease. This also promotes a healthy organic garden.

These are just some tips you should follow for a bountiful organic garden. You can find many books or online resources that will give you tips to growing your organic garden naturally.