Green Living at GardenSuperMart.com

Year in Review

Courtney — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 15:00:39 +0000

Did you do anything new and exciting with your garden this year? How about around your home - were there any exciting changes to make your life more green? Let us know, we’d love to hear about your accomplishments! Send any pictures of your garden or green choices, and we’ll post them on our blog!

Can Uncontrolled Consumerism Lead to the Destruction of the Environment?

gerry — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 22:00:43 +0000

Are we doomed to roam space in an intergalactic space cruiser, after we’ve destroyed the earth’s environment? This was actually the premise to a cartoon I watched this weekend, “Wall-E.”

Here’s the synopsis of the movie:

By the early 22nd century, the Buy N Large megacorporation took control of every economic service on Earth, causing excessive worldwide consumerism to cover the planet in un-recycled trash. A plan was implemented that would have the Earth’s population evacuate the planet into space on fully automated luxury starliners where they would spend the next five years, while an army of waste disposal robots called “WALL-E” units (Waste Allocation Load Lifter, Earth-Class) would be left to clean the planet. This plan failed, however, and the planet was deemed uninhabitable. For the next 700 years, humanity continued to live in space while all of the WALL-E robots on Earth eventually broke down.

Is this storyline far-fetched, or could it really happen to us?

Going Away for Holidays

Courtney — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 18:19:47 +0000

The holidays are fast approaching. Mid-way through next week, I’m going to be heading off to visit my parents for about a week and a half. While I’m gone, I want my apartment to be using as little electricity as possible, and to stay as green as possible. I’ve been looking into everything that I can be doing over this period of time to make it as green as possible when I’m away. I’m unplugging everything except my refrigerator (and my stove, which is staying plugged in as I cannot pull it out and get to the plug). If something is plugged in, it still draws power. Whether it’s for a clock, or because it likes to respond to remote controls, it draws power. And there’s really no sense in it doing that while no one is home.

A lot of sites that I’ve been looking into that talk about greening your home when you go away on vacation mention turning down your heating. For me, that is hard because I have no control over the heating - the whole building uses radiators that the landlord controls the settings of.

Are you going anywhere for the holidays? Are you planning on greening your home while you’re away?

One Million Acts of Green

Courtney — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 15:16:13 +0000

I joined a new(ish) website over the weekend - One Million Acts of Green. This website counts how much greenhouse gases you’re saving with each “act of green” that you commit. For example, packing a literless lunch saves 100 kg of greenhouse gases.

A lot of the things listed on the site I don’t have the ability to do, what with living in an apartment building – there is a good portion that is related strictly to home projects (such as hot water pipe insulation).

What I like best about this site, though, is that I can quantify what I’m doing - I like that I can put a number of greenhouse gases I’m reducing. Awesome!

Are you a member there?

Going Greener for the Holidays

Courtney — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 16:47:19 +0000

I love the holiday season. Positively love it – it’s my favourite time of the year, and I’ve been known to go overboard with the holiday cheer. (Yes, I may have been listening to Christmas music since mid-October.) I’ve been hearing/reading a lot of stuff in the media and on a handful of the blogs I subscribe to about making your holiday – whether you celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, or any other holiday – a “Green” holiday this year. I’ve seen everything from buying energy efficient lights to regifting gifts you’ve previously received. Some things are extreme, but some of the ideas seem very easy to put into practice.

I’ve got a few plans for myself to make things a little greener around my holiday season:

I’m a huge advocate of real Christmas cards (electronic ones seems not as personal to me). I realize that this isn’t necessarily environmentally friendly, but I make my own every year. This cuts back on packaging, and adds a bit more of a personal touch. This year, I’m sending them all out in recycled envelopes, and have cut back the number that I’m sending out.

This year I started bring my own canvas bags when shopping for Christmas gifts in order to avoid a collection of plastic ones by the end of the shopping trip. This is definitely something that is going to continue throughout the year as well.

Lastly, a number of the gifts I’m giving this year are going to be edible gifts that I’ve made. This is cutting back on the driving to the mall, cuts back on packaging that the gift is in, and it’s much more likely that this gift doesn’t have the chance of sitting around and never being used, or thrown into a landfill.

How are you making your holidays a little greener?

Winter is officially upon us

shawn — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 20:26:04 +0000

Seasons greetings! (Well almost) it’s nearly December already! Can you believe that? It wasn’t long ago that pond and garden supplies were flying out the door and the gardening season was in full swing. Since then, flowers have met their demise, veggie gardens have been eaten, and the ground has started to freeze. The life of the winter garden fanatic has arrived. All of us staring out at the backyard with future plans, dreaming of the day where we can toss on the radio and spend the day in the garden. The one thing I always take advantage of during winter is the deals you can scoop up! Whether it’s at your favorite garden center, online gardening store, or local shopping mall these seasonal products are great buys this time of year. Even though it’s a cold and dreary road ahead it won’t be long before winter is long forgotten and bright sunny skies are all we know!

GardenSuperMart rain barrels - getting a lot of exposure!

shawn — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 19:27:15 +0000

The Cascata & Agua rain barrels we sell our continuing to receive a lot of positive feedback and press coverage. Throughout the gardening season we had been hearing rave reviews about these products from satisfied customers from all over the United States and Canada. Blogs, magazines, green-living websites have all commented on how great these rain barrels are. Websites like Garden Rant, Groovy Green, Gardening Life, This Garden is Illegal, and many more love these barrels.

We recently released a video on the making of a rain barrel which can be viewed here: rain barrel video this video will show you a totally different perspective on this popular product. Watch step-by-step how a rain barrels starts off as a clear plastic pellet and is transformed into the beautiful creations you see on our website.

Enjoy!

In the News: Algranti’s Green Rebirth

Courtney — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:38:00 +0000

We’ve been mentioned in an article in the Waterloo Record: Algranti’s green rebirth!

Gerry with Rain Barrels

An excerpt:

Polls showed the environment was becoming a top-of-mind issue for North Americans, and the region had just gone through a water shortage.

Trade magazines talked about the popularity of rain barrels in drought-prone areas, but the ones available for sale were not visually appealing.

After experimenting with different designs, the company came up with two sizes of rain barrels designed to look like terracotta pots. A planter in the lid allows shrubbery to spill over the top, integrating the barrels into the surroundings.
Algranti’s Green Rebirth, Matt Walcoff, November 12, 2008

Halloween Costume Idea: An Algreen Terra Composter!

gerry — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:38:11 +0000

Anne showed up on Halloween for work dressed up as an Algreen Terra Composter… the picture speaks for itself :)

Recycling at Home

Courtney — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 14:46:34 +0000

We’re trying to live greener lives here. We’ve been making changes in the way our office is run, and hopefully that is having an effect on our own personal lives. I know for me it has.

For the past 2+ years, I’ve been living in an apartment building that doesn’t recycle. While this has annoyed me to no end, I’ve never done anything about it. Since our office has started recycling, I’ve been motivated to find out how to recycle away from the office. And so, I’ve found a recycling drop-off centre here in Cambridge where I can drop my recyclables off at. This is not the ideal solution, because it means that other people in my apartment are still most likely tossing their recyclables. But it’s a step in the right direction.

Remember, if you’re looking for daily tips on water conservation, composting, green gardening and green homes, you can follow us on Twitter. We also have a monthly newsletter that includes green living tips, news and deals. We’ve also recently created both a Facebook Page and a Facebook Group. We want to work with you help create greener lives for us all!