This spring we started a vegetable garden in above ground planters for the first time.  We got the idea from a lady with a green thumb and went crazy on our green project.  Over the first few weeks it seemed like nothing wanted to grow, like a new mother, I checked my plants growth progress at least twice a day.  After the first few weeks I just grew used to the fact that I would have to water the plants and if they produced food I was just lucky.  The first signs of progress came when I noticed a couple of my tomato plants leaning over like they needed support.  To my surprise a bunch of little tomatoes caused the plants to lean over.

A quick trip to our local garden center provided the tomato plants with the ugly looking wire supports that they needed.  Now the only problem was that the supports that were 4′ tall caused my plants to look small again.  Oh well, at least they were producing food.  My 2 year old daughter now makes it a daily routine to inspect her “baby tomatoes”, she likes to show me everyone.  I can’t imagine how long this process will take once our pepper plants start to have their own little babies.

Today we moved our garden (remember everything is grown in portable containers) to the side of our home since it is getting more sun than the front of our home.  My neighbors will hopefully be pleased with the jungle missing from our front yard since they never believed me when I said that the plants were flowers.

If you are looking for a fun filled green project, it is not to late to start your own garden in a few planters.  For tips please check out the link in the first paragraph.  If you have already started a similar project, please leave a comment with a link to your website.

 A few months ago I attended a green building show in Boston and was able to check out Toto’s line of water saving toilets.  Their display at the green show was rather impressive and it seemed to draw a good size crowd.  We were able to play with the toilets like kids without the Toto rep kicking us out!

In the picture above they use golf balls and plastic tubes to show how much “stuff” their toilets can flush without requiring a second flush.

In the picture above they show how much “stuff” makes it through the drain system without clogging.  The funny thing is that the water was turned off at the time this picture was taken and only about 50% of the total flush made it to the collection basin.  Once the rep turned on the water and reloaded the toilet bowl the entire load made it into the basin.

This is a dual flush toilet which uses .9 gallons per flush when you don’t have the need to flush a dozen golf balls and a dozen plastic water bags.  If you need to get rid of a large load then you can hit the 1.6 gallon button and flush away $20 in golf balls.

If you are looking for a water saving toilet I would suggest one of the dual flush models.  Since this was the only one on display at the green home show that I attended, I am not able to compare it to other models.  Some of the other green blogs that I read have done reviews on the Toto toilets and I have yet to see anything negative on the product line.  Until Toto sends me a free water saving toilet to test (hint Toto toilet people) I can not provide a in-house review.