Green Tips

Compact fluorescents, CFLs, are accepted for recycling at most Home Depot and Lowe’s stores.  The long fluorescent tubes may not be so call first.

Replace your gas-powered leaf blower with an electric one or better yet, with a rake. Gas leaf blowers are identified by the CDC and EPA as sources of harmful noise: “ this type of noise is not just an annoyance, it is a public health problem.”

Leaves will enrich your soil.  Rake them into small, low piles and then mow over the piles. The shredded leaves can then be gathered to use as mulch.

Security yard lights kill thousands of moths. Replace these lights with motion-sensor lights that light-up only when motion is detected.

Install covers over your window wells to prevent small critters like frogs from entering and becoming trapped in the window wells. The plastic covers are an inexpensive fix and easy to install.

Avoid using them!!  “Bug Zappers.” are indiscriminate and non-selective: they attract and kill all kinds of insects unnecessarily.

Contact the Garden Helpline offered by Buncombe County Master Gardeners. Send questions and photos to buncombemg@gmail.com or call 828-250-4878.

Squash the plastic bottles and cans if you can but do not flatten them like a pancake because they would be hard to separate from paper recyclables.

Store in air-tight containers in the refrigerator to extend the life. If only using occasionally, store in freezer.

Cut down on packaging by choosing tea bags that don’t have strings and tags or are in individual wrappers.