The Turtle Mat garden, although quietly coming to life, is seeing some impressive bird activity already. Amongst our usual winter visitors – finches, robins and blue tits, we have spotted yellow hammers and a great spotted woodpecker, so twitching here is almost a full time job!

We’ll try to keep you up-to-date on our visitors in future posts, with a few snaps if they’ll stay put long enough.

We missed the opportunity to plant bulbs in autumn so the garden isn’t as colourful as it could be – we’re reliant on several different coloured Cornus for a bit of zing.

We’re thinking daffies for next year so if any of you have any favourite varieties you could recommend – please let us know by commenting on this post.

At home, us “turtles” are having a little more success with bulbs – Susan’s snowdrops are beautiful, and Becca’s late daffodils (all white) are creeping through, which she can’t quite believe having planted them so late.

I know we might be slightly biased but our Turtle Mats have really worked hard this autumn/winter, especially with the heavy Cotswold mud. Another quick tip from us – older Turtle Mats make great weed suppressors as well as protection for tender exotics (such as palms) over winter – again tufty-side in.

Here’s our favourite link at the on all things spring: http://www.wildaboutgardens.org

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.