No longer is spring hiding its modesty behind early morning frosts and hazy showers, now it is out in all its splendor; our gardens and their visitors are testament to that.  We have an abundance of colour from poeticus daffodils proudly and fragrantly showing us their wares to the blossom in its final farewell for the year, leaving in its wake a confetti-like trail of petals.

Our “Turtle Towers” visitors are still setting up camp around our feeders. We have desperately been trying to snap a few shots of our resident yellow hammer but he seems to be a little camera shy! The Jackdaws in all their foreboding menace are however strutting around the feeders like Mike Jagger at his finest and have been since about the beginning of the month. Also spotted: finches, sparrows and tits. No return however of the woodpecker.

Of course, how could we forget April also means spiders – whether you love them or loathe them you’ll find them basking on some sunny wall. When dealing with our eight-legged friends we tend to follow the old English rhyme:

“If you wish to live and thrive, let a spider run alive.”

We’ve been propagating like crazy– white Black Eyed Susan (Thunbergia alata Alba) for which we are having mixed success with only 50% germinating, the ubiquitous sweet peas, Cosmos and other annuals; as well as veg a plenty.

Finally, there’s some rain forecast for this weekend (typically just in time for the bank holiday!) so if you plan to be out in the garden come rain or shine like us, then don’t forget your Turtle Mat at the back door for those muddy wellies!

Making your home environmentally friendly can be a truly motivating process. Not only you will be helping to save the planet from pollution, but you’ll be also making savings for your budget by using less energy.

You might want to start by something extremely simple. Make it a house rule that everybody turns out all lights anytime they leave a room. You can also do something as simple as getting up earlier everyday – this will prevent using the artificial light and also save money and energy.

You could also replace your light bulbs with the environmentally friendly light bulbs. This shouldn’t be an overnight process, as throwing away current bulbs will only increase waste. Instead, make it a gradual process of replacing the bulbs with their environment friendly versions.

Continue with the simple things. Imagine your trash can. Downsize it. Alongside the trash can, place the recycling bins. Use one for glass. Another can be used for compost – organic items like the old food that can be placed outside in the garden.  Other bins can be used for aluminum cans and recyclable paper.

By implementing the strategies listed above, you are on a good way to at least reduce the negative impact of your home on the environment and save it for yourself and and your children.

Using Turtle Mat Door Mats you are helping the environment. Please take a look at Turtle Mat Eco Policy.