Catherine, a professional gardener, had gone from Tasmania, Australia on a visit to Pakistan where she saw that used tyres were being recycled in plant pots. She decided to source the pots from Pakistan. Plastic pots, when exposed to sunlight and water, do crack and get spoilt after a few years. Plastic then ends up in landfills and pollutes the environment, since it does not biodegrade. Pots made of terracotta or mud are more eco-friendly, but very heavy to use.

UBeauty’s pots are made from recycled tyres, thus reducing the tyres’ environmental impact. The usable tread of the tyres, if any, is stripped and used as mulch. The steel belting is also removed and recycled separately. The tyre pieces are then cut into strips and segments and stitched using durable nylon thread. Where required, nuts and bolts are also used to make the pots stronger.

The pots are then polished till they shine. These eco-friendly plant pots are strong, frost resistant, long lasting and lightweight. They come in different shapes and sizes and can be used indoors and outdoors. Empty new pots can also be used as storage containers.

Catherine is also selling biodegradable plant pots made from coconut fiber in Sri Lanka. These pots can last up to two years after which they will biodegrade. Or they can be placed in the tyre pots. Recycled plastic bottles from Vietnam find use when remade into gardening gloves.

It is always fun to grow your own plants and watch them grow. This do-it-yourself kit makes it easy to grow some plants without any soil. Hydroponic gardening does not require soil and is gaining in popularity. Plants grow thanks to a nutrient rich solution, which the kit also tells you how to make. The Hydrodome Hydroponic Desk Garden comes with a large container and four small pots so you can actually grow four different plants.

The pots contain net and rock wool to keep the plants anchored. It also comes with a pack of mixed lettuce seeds as the plant is easy to grow, but you can grow anything else as well. While it is meant for children above 12 years, there is nothing to say that adults cannot use it.

So you can actually have a growing plant on your desk and watch it grow, without having to get your hands dirty. For youngsters it provides something new to learn. And kids can even have it as a show and tell or science project.

If you are concerned about wasting rainwater, but have not put water butts or any add ons to your drain pipes to collect wasted water, you can get hold of this easy to install Raindrop Mini. It fits over the pipe and has a jug to hold the excess water. This makes it easy to remove the jug and use the water.

Currently available only in Europe this is a great idea to reuse water which would otherwise be wasted. While it is meant for gardens, you can see that you can only actually use it to water indoor plants or use the water in any other way.

Why? Because if you have an outdoors garden, the rain is going to be sufficient to water the garden anyway! It is only plants which don’t get the rainwater that will need to be watered. Yes, it is a less messy and eco friendly way to store water, but it begs the question that it actually do you need it for your garden?

The very fact that you have a garden means that you are doing your bit for the environment and growing plants for show or for food. Plants help oxygenate the environment and reduce pollution, particularly carbon dioxide. You can help the environment even more by adopting eco-friendly practices in the garden.

Among devices which can adorn your garden, the Sundial Outdoor/Indoor clock cum thermometer is ornamental as well as functional. It tells the time, indicates the sun and gives the temperature which is helpful for your gardening needs. It is handcrafted and has a clean and modern look, with a slate finish.

It has eco-friendly credentials as it is made from recycled coffee cups. In fact, each clock uses 25 recycled vending machine cups, sources from the national Save-A-Cup scheme. And it is not necessary that you use it in your garden, you can keep it indoors, too.

If you need a new watering can or you need something to water your plants in your balcony or window sill, you really don’t need to go out and buy another watering can. You can be environmentally friendly by getting hold of this bottle adaptor which fits on top of most glass or plastic bottles. So you find another use for empty bottles and save on buying a watering can as well.

Available in myriad colors, it can be used very effectively particularly for small pots, directing the water through the nozzle. And if you need to use a certain amount of water for a plant, you can easily get an idea of how much water you are using, depending on the storage capacity of the bottle.

The nozzle is made of reused PET closures so it is even more eco-friendly. You can recycle the bottles as well since you just need to attach the nozzle to the bottle. In fact this nifty device can also help in cleaning the leaves of your plants.

Whether you have many plants or just a few, you know you need to water them regularly. The quantity of water also varies. If you can get an IRISO eco-friendly watering system, which requires very little care, it takes the pain out these chores. And this watering system is simple to use.

The IRISO water system has to be used along with a recycled plastic bottle. You select the bottle according to the quantity of water needed. The water dripper has 11 settings to regulate the flow of water. So if you are going to be away from your plants for a long time, you need to use larger bottles.

The water system uses a pipe to connect it to the bottle. Each plant will need a separate system, especially when these are potted plants. It makes sense, therefore, to buy them in packs. And you can use old pet or plastic bottles for storing the water. No electricity, timers or electricity needed, so eco-friendly in the extreme.

Whether you enjoy sitting in your patio, yard or garden, you must be aware that often mosquitoes and other insects bite you. Insects buzzing around can also be disturbing, even if they do not harm you. This Solar Insect and Pest Killer is a great environmentally friendly device to have around.

It is wireless and very easy to install. It comes with three lights, one a white LED and the other two purple LEDs. The purple lights attract the insects and the pest killer zaps them. This device works in two ways – one is when you put on the purple lights to kill the insects and the other is one when you switch to the white light to give you illumination.

This weatherproof solar insect killer cum light either can be put into the ground with a stake or hung from a hook or tree. In fact, if you have a large enough place, you can use several. When it is used in the pest control insect zapping mode the lights will last for six hours on a full charge.

If you use it as a light, it will illuminate the area for up to six hours. It is solar powered and comes with rechargeable batteries. The LEDs can last for 100,000 hours, which is a long time. Therefore, in sunny weather you just put some of these around and forget about them, except when you want to switch them on.

Gardening is a great hobby and allows you to get some good exercise. However, if you have a large garden or a farm, it can be pretty tiring at times to remove weeds, getting down on your knees or bending down – not great for people with knee or back problems. While gardening is eco-friendly, so is the Wunda Weeder.

It runs on solar power thanks to the solar panels on the roof. Made by Australian inventors Brendan Corry and Peter Sargent, the Wunda Weeder can be used on farms and the inventors say it can triple farm productivity. It moves slowly and you have to lie down while doing your work.

Now Wunda Weeder takes the pain out of removing weeds, apart from helping in other tasks like sowing and harvesting. Okay, it is not meant for the weekend gardener or the person who has a small garden, because the contraption is quite big. Its price is also steep, so will be more viable to use in small or big farms.

http://www.coolest-gadgets.com/20100715/wunda-weeder-lets-lazily-garden/

There are many environmentally friendly solar gadgets and in comparison, wind power is used much less. However, this garden light looks right at home in a garden because it is shaped like a flower and uses wind energy as its source of power.

Its petals are the wind propellers and the slightest breeze is sufficient to move them. The propellers are connected to a machine which helps harness the wind energy to trun it into electricity. The energy is stored in a battery.

The garden light is even more eco-friendly as it comes with a light sensor which automatically switches it on when it is dark. This concept light is an ‘intelligent’ one as it uses wind to harness energy which is released only when needed. It looks good and saves energy as well. In fact if you were to put them in a row around your garden or even on the patio, you could achieve a stunning effect when the lights come on.

Birds can be nice, otherwise why would people keep them as pets or keep birdbaths in their gardens? However, birds can also be pests specially when they eat seeds and plants and poop all over the place. Many birds also spread diseases.

So if you have a garden, a patio, a swimming area, decks, boats, gazebos, fish ponds, a boat or car cover, this bird repeller can help keep the birds at bay. It is environmentally friendly, being solar powered – no batteries needed. It can be placed at any angle. The solar panel works even in low light conditions.

The device has rotating, telescoping arms which can sweep up to 2.5 feet each for a 5 feet diameter. Streamers can be attached to it for additional length. It works by moving the arms so hopefully birds will stay away.