As the weather cools down and Autumn settles into Melbourne, it’s a great time to make a few small, eco-friendly tweaks around the home. Here is a simple guide to eating seasonal local produce, prepping your garden for the months ahead, managing fallen leaves, and keeping energy bills down this season.
1. Sustainable Eating This Autumn
Eating in-season produce reduces ‘food miles’ – the energy used to transport food thousands of kilometres to our shops. It’s also fresher, cheaper, and great for new recipe ideas!
Here’s a glimpse of what’s now in season in Victoria:
2. Autumn Planting Guide for Melbourne & Surrounding Areas
While enjoying fresh autumnal produce, it’s time to start planting for Winter!
Check out our Autumn planting guide for Melbourne and surrounding areas:
3. Simple Autumn Energy Saving Tips
As nights close in and the weather cools, energy bills tend to rise. Here are 8 easy, eco-friendly tips to keep your home warm and cozy:
- Make the most of the autumn sun – even though the temperatures have dipped, when the sun is out it still holds a fair bit of strength. Leave your curtains open and you may be surprised how much natural light and heat can warm a room up.
- Think before you flick the heating on – instead of turning on the heater could wearing a warmer jumper and slippers or an extra blanket on the bed do the job? Does the whole house need to be heated?
- Reduce heat loss through the floor – the use of carpets and rugs are a great way to insulate a room.
- Seal leaks around doors and windows and use door snakes to keep out cold air.
- Avoid using your dryer unless absolutely necessary – on a sunny autumn day get the washing out to line dry, a bit of a breeze with the intensity of the sun should do the trick. If you are using your ducted floor heating at night place clothes horses over the top of the ducts and put a towel over the top of the clothes horse – creating a tent-like set up dries the items beneath pretty quickly.
- Ensure your fridge/freezer is sealing properly – over the course of a year an issue with the door seal can add to your electricity bill significantly. By allowing moist, warm air from the kitchen into the fridge means the fridge has to work extra hard to keep cool.
- Put in a water tank – if you have the space, consider installing a water tank to capture the autumn/winter rainfall so you can have an alternative supply for water.
- Get out and about – the weather in autumn is cooling down but it can be really lovely getting out on those crisp mornings. Turn the heating and appliances off and make the most of it and get out of the house when you can.
4. What to Do with Fallen Autumn Leaves
Autumn leaves look pretty, but as they litter footpaths and lawns, they can become a bit of a pest. Let’s look at some environmentally responsible ways to utilise or dispose of them:
Composting leaves is a great way to make a rich organic fertiliser for your garden. When the leaves have turned brown rake them up and shred them with either a leaf shredder or lawn mower. To make an effective fertiliser it’s important to maintain a balance between carbon-rich and nitrogen-rich materials. The brown leaves are rich in carbon so we need to add nitrogenous ingredients such as grass clippings, fruit/vegetable scraps or coffee grounds to the leaves.
Autumn leaves – composting
Mix the pile together well and continue to turn over every few days to make sure things breakdown evenly. Cover the pile with a tarp and wait for the magic to happen. It should take approx. two months for the compost to be ready to use – just in time for Spring! You’ll know it’s ready as it will start to smell earthy and will be dark brown in colour.
Autumn leaves – mulching
Mulch works as a protective barrier on top of the soil to keep moisture in and reduce weeds. Rather than ducking down to your local Bunnings to buy some mulch, if you have a good pile of dried leaves – why not try your hand at making it?
Simply shred the leaves with a leave shredder or lawn mower and mix together with wood chips and grass clippings. This mixture can then be added to the top of your soil for protection. If you start to see the mulch decomposing it’s time to make some more and replace this stuff – unlike compost we do not want the contents to break down.
Autumn leaves – art and craft
If you have children there are loads of art and craft projects you could use some of your Autumn leaves for to make fun, colourful pieces. If you are that way inclined you could even use your Autumn leaves to make your own potpourri.
Autumn leaves – disposal
If you are unable to utilise your Autumn leaves and need to dispose of them, please make sure you do so responsibly. Most councils offer a green waste collection service (for example, Glen Eira Council offers a 240L bin for a fortnightly collection). Please ensure you do not overfill your bin as leaves and green waste are very heavy. If you have bulk green waste to be collected on a regular basis, please contact KS Environmental.
It’s important you do not dispose of any green waste in your general waste bin – when green waste is buried in landfill it undergoes anaerobic decomposition (because of the lack of oxygen) and generates methane which is a very potent greenhouse gas.
To find out about bulk green waste disposal or what other recycling services KS Environmental can offer you please contact us.
Sources: networx.com
