DIY Life

Your front yard doesn't have to be perfectly manicured or professionally landscaped to look good. It is, however, your public face -- of sorts. Plus, your neighbors are forced to look at whatever you put out there!

Be a good neighbor: banish the following items from your front yard.

1. Plastic foliage. I'm talking anything you got from a craft store. Like this, for example. Plastic ivy. Faux dried sunflowers. Silk chrysanthemums. Plastic wreaths. Fake autumn leaves strung into streamers. Shudder.

Plastic flowers are tacky in the garden. They're unnecessary. After all, you have Mother Nature at your disposal! Why choose fake flowers? Finally, they evoke the cemetery. Enough said.

Weed block is good stuff. It has a myriad of uses, from keeping weeds down to backing a wall, to stabilizing soil, to, well, a bazillion things -- more than you'd think; we'll get into them. It's a material that will keep weed and grass seeds from germinating while allowing air, moisture, and nutrients to pass through to the soil and nourish the roots around your plantings.

When he first learned that leaving mowed grass right on a newly cut lawn is healthier for your grass, my husband was thrilled. We have a large yard and he was so tired of raking.

The leftover cuttings act like mulch for your lawn, helping it retain moisture and giving it valuable nutrients. It's just one of eight things you can do to have a healthy, eco-friendly lawn.

Other tips include:

• setting your mower to cut the grass no shorter than 3 inches
• using a reel lawnmower
• watering early in the day, only when needed
• putting up a bird feeder to reduce pests
• growing the right type of grass for your region
• aerating the soil regularly

At our house, we are nothing if not cheap and lazy (though I prefer the terms frugal and laid-back), which is why I also like this very detailed tutorial from richsoil.com on how to have a nice organic lawn the cheap and lazy way. Finally, if weeds are the only thing that stand between you and a chemical-free lawn, try a few of our own tricks for handling weeds without chemical herbicides.

Dandelions don't have to be just an annoying weed in your perfect (or less than perfect, in our case) lawn. They can also be dinner. They're tasty in salads, soups, wine, even coffee, and the heads and stems are also edible. Dandelions are just one of several weeds you can have for lunch, according to Gomestic (who will explain exactly how to prepare each one). I'll share the others with you after the break.

Our fabulous sister site, Green Daily, has just launched an equally fabulous guide to green gardening. If you frequent Green Daily you will already know the site offers a wealth of info on everything green. From climate change to household conservation tips, from celebrity tidbits to technological innovations--they got it covered. And now -- ta-da -- green gardening, too!

Among the attractions are container gardening tips, book reviews, planting advice and soil preparation pointers. The Green Daily bloggers have also looked into a subject I'm trying to learn more about: landscaping with native plants. Last but not least, the Green Daily Gardening Guide offers up many colorful photo galleries for your viewing pleasure.

Finally, may I also say that green gardening advice is so very needed. We gardeners need to unlearn many environmentally harmful practices that we grew up with and never thought twice about. Like the routine use of herbicides and pesticides, to name just one thing that makes me go "grrr." Thanks, Green Daily, for helping spread the word.

So, fellow gardening enthusiasts, put down that shovel and kick off those dirt-encrusted boots. Put your feet up in front of the computer and enjoy this brand new blogging attraction!