Friday 5

5 green tips for Earth Day

Earth Day isn’t an official holiday and doesn’t have a bunch of fun traditions built up around it (at least in most families). That said, it’s as good a time as any to make some changes in your routines for the sake of the planet, not to mention your own pocketbook.

CHANGE YOUR LIGHT BULBS: It looks like the era of the incandescent light bulb is rapidly drawing to a close. The new compact fluorescent bulbs cost more up front, but will save you $30 in energy over the life of an average bulb. The good news for global warming? Replacing a regular light bulb with an efficient compact fluorescent bulb equals a 150-pound reduction in atmospheric carbon dioxide.

CHECK YOUR TIRES: Under-inflated car tires aren’t as efficient, and you’re paying for it. Keeping them at the proper pounds-per-square-inch rating will improve your gas mileage by about 3 percent. Look at it this way: If it costs you about $50 to fill up your tank, you’re saving almost $1.50 per trip to the gas station.

RETHINK YOUR THERMOSTAT: Spending about $100 on a programmable thermostat that manages your home heating and cooling for maximum efficiency is a smart investment. It will pay for itself in less than a year, and that’s without you having to change your comfort habits. You’ll get about 3 percent energy savings for every degree you shave off your thermostat setting, which means more money in your pocket and less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

DRIVE LESS: Duh. And if $2.70 unleaded isn’t incentive enough, remember: Every mile you drive equals about a pound of carbon dioxide gas.

PLANT TREES: Not only do trees recycle carbon dioxide, they’re also great for shading your house in summer.

(Really) Frost-safe planting

I actually went out on March 1 to get info for the "First Frost-Safe 5" item on plants you could put in the ground on or after March 11.The scene: A rainy afternoon on a cool pre-spring day on Johns Island. Perfect for cat-naps.

The 5-gimmick: I asked Chad Dausener, a "plant propagator" at Pete's Herbs, to give me five plants you could put in the ground around March 11, which is what I'd heard was the frost-safe date for this zone. But Dausener said they looked at things differently on this locally owned farm: "We don't consider it really frost-safe until April 15." As evidence, he cited a recent season marred by a surprise frost in the first week of April.

Which brings us (as so few garden topics do) to a Dirty Harry quote: "So you gotta decide: Do I feel lucky?"

What I wound up with was a hybrid: A "non-gambler's 5" for the March 9 edition... and then I'll come back in April and check with some other nursery for spring/summer vegetables to start setting out when things are really, really frost-safe.

Chad's picks (and remember: click the image to see it full-size):