Around The House

Cleaning Tips
Lawn Care Tips
Motor Vehicles
Pesticides
Water Conservation

• Do not pour chemicals or motor oil down storm drains.
• Use gravel or interlocking brick as a driveway to allow water to soak into the ground.
• Direct pool water over grass or gravel to allow nature to filter out chemicals before it reaches the storm sewers.
• Direct downspouts or gutters towards shrubs, trees or grass.
• Plant trees around your house to act as shade.  By doing this you will decrease the need for air conditioning. 
• Try to use water based products whenever possible.
• Dispose of hazardous wastes at proper collection centres.
• Plant native species, they require less water and fertilizers, as they are adapted to survive in local conditions. 
• Install gravel trenches along impermeable surfaces so that the water can be collected and filtered into the ground and not runoff directly over the surface.

Cleaning Tips

• Make your own cleaners.  For example, to clean your windows take 2 teaspoons of vinegar and one litre of water.  To unplug your drains mix 250 ml of baking soda, 250 ml of salt, 125 ml of vinegar and put it down the drain.  Let it stand for 15 minutes and then pour boiling water down the drain.
• Use vegetable based soaps and shampoos.
• Use liquid dishwashing detergent in your dishwasher.  They have a third of the amount of phosphorus.
• Wash your car with phosphate free and /or biodegradable soap on your lawn or a gravelled area. This way the soap and water will not runoff directly to strom sewers.
• Sweep your driveway clean rather than hosing it down.
• Use more environmentally friendly cleaners.  Use baking soda, vinegar and water, olive oil (natural wood polisher) and hydrogen peroxide wherever possible.

Lawn Care Tips

• If you fertilize your lawn, sweep any fertilizer off of your driveway and the road so that it doesn’t get washed into the storm sewers.
• Use rain barrels to reduce runoff and use that water for your garden.
• Use organic fertilizers like compost and manure instead of chemical fertilizers.  Coffee grinds and eggshells work great in gardens.
• Adjust your lawn mower to higher settings.  Longer grass retains water better.
• Water in the morning when temperatures are cooler to minimize evaporation.
• Determine what kind of grass you have.  Some types require more water then others.  You may end up over-watering your lawn.
• Check your sprinkler system to ensure that your lawn is watered and not the house, sidewalk or street.
• Use slow release organic fertilizers.
• Mulch your garden to add nutrients, reduce the need for water and make soils more workable. Mulch can be straw, grass clippings, wood chips or leaves.
• Compost your yard leaves and food waste for vegetable and flower gardens to minimize the need for synthetic fertilizer.
• If your garden is located on a slope, plant across the slope, not up and down the hill so that each row acts as a ridge to trap runoff, soil and nutrients.
• Rotate crops so that similar crops don’t occupy the same area every year.  Crop rotation minimizes the need for fertilizers and pesticides.
• Leave your grass clippings on the lawn - cut grass acts as biodegradable mulch and dramatically reduces the need for fertilizers.
• Supplement your lawn with groundcovers that require less maintenance like clover.
• Along shorelines, stream banks and road ditches plant a combination of native deep-rooted, woody vegetation and shallow-rooted shrubs and grasses if natural vegetation is absent.  Plant roots stabilize soils, prevent erosion and take up nutrients before they can runoff t storm sewers or surface water bodies.

Motor Vehicles

• Check the air in your tires.  Driving on under inflated tires wastes fuel.
• Reduce the amount that you drive by sharing rides, using public transportation and biking or walking whenever possible.
• Recycle used motor oil.
• Dispose of antifreeze carefully - it contains ethylene glycol, which is toxic to fish, people and animals.  Do not pour used antifreeze down drains, storm drains or onto driveways.
• Always keep your car well tuned - it burns fuel more efficiently this way.
• Drives a fuel-efficient car - the less gas you burn, the fewer pollutants are emitted into the atmosphere and eventually into our watercourses.
• Do not exceed speed limits.  Fuel consumption increases by 1 percent for each kilometre per hour in speed above 100 km/hr.
• Do some planning - combine several errands to reduce your total mileage.

Pesticides

Don't assume that any insect on your lawn or in your garden is bad.  Ninety percent of insects you find are not harmful and many are beneficial.

Simple ways to deal with pest problems:

• Wrap seedlings in newspaper strips, aluminum foil, or plastic to repel cutworms;
• Properly identify insects (harmful or beneficial);
• Plant borders (eg., marigolds) that naturally repel insects;
• Learn about companion planting - for example, onions planted near carrots can help keep rust flies off the carrots;
• Encourage birds to visit your garden to help keep pest populations down; and encourage populations of ladybugs, praying mantises and other insects that eat garden pests.
• Buy chemical pesticides only if necessary and purchase only the quantity you need.
• Be sure to read pesticide labels carefully - never apply near wells, streams, ponds or marshes.
• Never apply pesticides to bare or eroded ground, and do not apply if heavy rain is forecast (unless the label specifies a need for water after application).
• Never pour pesticides into toilets or storm drains.  Retain all toxic materials in an area inaccessible to children and pets until your municipality holds a household hazardous waste collection day.
• In case of a small pesticide spill, do not hose down the area.  Sprinkle sawdust, cat litter or some absorbent material over the spill.  Sweep the material into a sturdy bag and store the bag until it can be taken to a hazardous waste collection site.

RECIPES FOR PEST CONTROL

ANTS: Any of the following items will help to repel ants:

• lemon juice and lemon peels;
• damp coffee grounds;
• bone meal; or
• talcum powder or lines of chalk.

GARDEN PESTS

• Place a handful of tobacco into 4 litres of warm water.  Let stand for 24 hours.  Dilute and spray on plants.
• Blend 3 hot peppers, half an onion and 1 clove of garlic into 4 litres of warm water.  Let stand for two days.  Strain, then spray on plants.

Water Conservation

• Fill one-quart plastic bottle with water and put it in your toilet tank.  You will save one quart of water per flush.
• Use low-flush toilets.
• Turn off sink faucets while brushing your teeth and shaving.
• To test for leaking toilets, put food colouring in the tank.  If the colouring appears in the bowl then you have a leak.
• If you have a leaky faucet, one drop per second will waste enough water every month to fill 16 baths.

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