Making the Most of Summer – Green ideas to get the best out of the sunshine

For some of us the summertime can be far too brief. A few hot weeks and before you know it the leaves on the trees start to change and autumn has arrived and signals the end of the summer months. This can often leave us frustrated that we didn’t take advantage of the sunshine when we had the opportunity. Especially for those of us that try to live an eco-friendly lifestyle and would like to make the most out of nature during the warmer months.

And while the summer months are a great opportunity to dust off the barbecue, there is so much more we can do to make the most of the sunshine. There are many great green and eco friendly ideas out there, which can help us have a good time in the sunshine but also ensure the environment isn’t damaged in the process.

Here are some great green ideas to help you make the most of the sunshine and warmer months ensuring you won’t wake up in October frustrated that you didn’t make the most out of the summertime:

No summer would be complete without the odd party. But a garden bash can be so much more than just dusting off the barbecue and serving a few sausages. There are a great many ideas out there that can help a party go with a swing. Garden lighting is a great way to allow you to keep the party going well into the warm evenings. These can be eco-friendly too, with a huge range of solar garden lights on the market there is no reason why you have to pack everything up once the sun has gone down.

The summer is a great time to tidy the garden up and make use of the natural resources. Recycling any waste in the composter is a great way to feed your garden and get rid of your waste. Composting is a great way to ensure you have a rich a luscious garden. Nearly anything organic that we throw away can be composted. For all that paper that you need to recycle why not get a log maker and compact them into fuel for the winter months. An open fire doesn’t have to be polluting especially if you use recycled material and a log maker that will compact it so it burns hotter with less smoke. You can keep all the logs you make in a log store which ensures they remain dry and makes sure you have plenty of fuel come winter.

Any time you invest in the garden during the summer will pay you back next year when you can see all your work bloom. There is more to gardening that just planting seeds and mowing the lawn though.

Rejuvenating the garden with new plants can be simple to do. Although any new plants need to be protected from garden pests like slugs. Raised flowerbeds often do the trick and these are available as raised bed kits that make it easy for the novice gardener to get started. Recycled paper can also be turned into paper plant pots for seedlings, which is another great way of recycling all that unwanted paper.

Once you have a luscious garden it will soon attract a variety of birds, butterflies and bees. The summer is a great opportunity to study the beauty of nature. For the keen birdwatcher or nature lover there is plenty you can do to encourage the wildlife too. Bird tables, bat boxes and even camera nesting boxes that allow you to record the progress of fledglings are a great way to get up close and personal with nature. Bumblebee nesters are also a great way to do something good for nature. Bumblebees are becoming incredibly endangered and just by planting a few flowers and placing a bumblebee nester in your garden you could be helping to save an entire species. Wormeries too are great fun fro the kids and are great place to start educating them about nature and wildlife.

Picnics are what summer is really about. No summer can be complete without getting out and about and enjoying the countryside. There are plenty of great ideas to help ensure you leave the countryside in the same way as you found it. Eco picnic plates for example are biodegradable plates that can be buried rather than lugged back with you. This ensures you don’t have to worry about littering the countryside or traipsing miles and miles before you find a litter bin.

What ever you plan to do this summer there are plenty of green gift ideas out there to ensure you not only have a good time during the hot season but also do it in a green and eco friendly way.