Green ideas for you and your family this festive season
![Green ideas for you and your family this festive season Green ideas for you and your family this festive season](/cms_media/module_img/7709/3854896_14_articlesmall_PANEL_2b2._2bDIY._2b25_2bNov._2bMichael_2bKelly_2b2._2bFounder_2bGIY.jpg)
Michael Kelly, founder, GIY.
The founder of the not-for-profit initiative Grow It Yourself (GIY), based in Waterford, Michael Kelly, has advice on going green this festive season, inside and out.
He shares a number of excellent ideas on his blog; see his blog on the website GIY
Opt for a potted tree for indoors, says Michael.
This way you can then enjoy a "nature restoration" activity with the family after Christmas as you plant it outside again or place it outside in a large pot and decorate it for the birds with seed balls, peanut butter and seed trays, he adds.
"It’s a fun activity for the kids and offers an important food source during the long cold winter days of winter for the birds," says Michael.
Start to upcycle this festive season. "With visitors calling it’s natural to fill your recycling bin more often at Christmas time, but this can be a good thing for food growers," according to the GIY founder.
"You will likely find very useful veggie-growing aids in the shape of pots and other containers.
"Keep an eye out for yoghurt cartons and toilet roll inserts for sowing seeds in.
"Clear punnets and milk bottles can act as cloches in spring when seedlings are first put out into the soil.”