It was a lifting and pruning blow-out here in the garden this last weekend. You’d have thought the end was near, but it was the coming of the biannual scourge of voters everywhere which spurred me to get ‘er done: le civic duty du jury. Glad that’s dealt with, now back to the garden… I hope!

Swiffers are marketed as a convenience, but in my view, this is a false promise. In order to use a Swiffer as designed, we are compelled to purchase a constant stream of chemical and VOC laden, low capacity “cleaning” pads,** and add them to the landfill.

I have given the Swiffer to the kids to play with, but have incorporated the general idea into my new mopping stratagem: I now use a Mr. Clean solution in a spray bottle (loosens dirt; low VOC), a “self-wringing” mop (and a bucket of hot water, for rinsing the mop). Outcome: much cleaner floors with no waste created.

** translated: loosening dirt and spreading it around, with a paltry 100 square foot (10′ x 10′) cleaning capacity

In a spray bottle with an adjustable sprayer, mix 2 ½ teaspoons liquid soap** per quart water, to make a 1% soap solution. Now, you’re cleaning while you kill flies. Add some Lavender essential oil to add aromatherapy to your Fly Goo brew!

Stops flies in their tracks. Long distance shots work best with a stream, close shots work best with a softer spray. Kids love to help with fly hunting.

**We use eco-friendly dish soap or Murphy’s Oil Soap

Just enter NEWCUST during checkout.

There’s more: Seeds are 20% during the End of Summer Special, now $1.20 per pack. 

Both of these are great deals, prices are already pretty darn reasonable!

Go easy on the planet and your wallet: buy some spray bottles and make your own cleaning sprays at home. Recommended solution strengths are on the massive jars, available at warehouse store X. Use fewer products for more things. We use a white vinegar solution for windows; eco-friendly dish soap solution in the kitchen (counters), Murphy’s Oil Soap (cabinets & walls) and Mr. Clean or Spic & Span for the floors.

Remember to mark your bottles, we know from experience that all diluted cleaners look alike (but smell is a good clue)!

In this case, I had a six hour drive home, and my brain can cover a lot of ground in 6 hours!  It’s a great location, he’s got nice furnishings, his place is sparse but well appointed, he’s obviously not one who chucks perfectly good, working appliances because retailers tell him he needs the new model…   But, if it were me, I’d hang gauze curtains on that balcony and sleep out there all summer!

When I woke up this morning, I realized, that while before I’d always thought, “Gosh, I wish I could render landscapes, in watercolor, the way Alan Titchmarsh does” (on the old Ground Force series), now I can.  I exploded out of bed. 

First to render the balcony as it is:

A touch of color (cobalt blue, squared, tapered planter); a perennial beauty and some verticality (Fortnight Lily (Dietes vegeta); some Purple Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’) to soften things, catch the breeze and tie in the lovely burgundy sofa; a squared terra cotta 3-level fountain for those sounds you can’t ever live without once you’ve had a fountain, and some repetition for a harmonious, no care container meadow effect.

Shazzam! A cheap, easy, movable planting that requires minimal maintenance at most, and as little water.  Well, now you know what I’d do, if it were me—but it’s not.

The balcony is rendered from memory, and the sofa perspective is off, but you get the idea.  You’ll have to imagine the curtains, pulled back during the day.  Heck, it’s my first Titchmarsh episode.  I don’t know about Mr. Titchmarsh, but I’d be having a lot less fun without Photoshop!

In this case, I had a six hour drive home, and my brain can cover a lot of ground in 6 hours! It’s a great location, he’s got nice furnishings, his place is sparse but well appointed, he’s obviously not one who chucks perfectly good, working appliances because retailers tell him he needs the new model… But, if it were me, I’d hang gauze curtains on that balcony and sleep out there all summer!

When I woke up this morning, I realized, that while before I’d always thought, “Gosh, I wish I could render landscapes, in watercolor, the way Alan Titchmarsh does” (on the old Ground Force series), now I can. I exploded out of bed.

First to render the balcony as it is:

A touch of color (cobalt blue, squared, tapered planter); a perennial beauty and some verticality (Fortnight Lily (Dietes vegeta); some Purple Fountain Grass (Pennisetum setaceum ‘Rubrum’) to soften things, catch the breeze and tie in the lovely burgundy sofa; a squared terra cotta 3-level fountain for those sounds you can’t ever live without once you’ve had a fountain, and some repetition for a harmonious, no care container meadow effect.

Shazzam! A cheap, easy, movable planting that requires minimal maintenance at most, and as little water. Well, now you know what I’d do, if it were me—but it’s not.

The balcony is rendered from memory, and the sofa perspective is off, but you get the idea. You’ll have to imagine the curtains, pulled back during the day. Heck, it’s my first Titchmarsh episode. I don’t know about Mr. Titchmarsh, but I’d be having a lot less fun without Photoshop!