A reader at frugal finance blog Get Rich Slowly suggests shredding your junk mail and using it to mulch your garden. To avoid killing your garden with inks and metals leeching off the shredded paper, the author uses the following guidelines:

• I only shred the non-glossy stuff, and try to avoid coloured ink as much as possible. Since I'm shredding to avoid identity theft in the first place, and credit applications these days contain coloured ink, I can't stay 100% black and white, but I can accept that.

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Document your green thumb's handiwork this growing season by taking photos of the flowers and vegetables in your garden. Photographer and gardener Joel Heffner has some tips for getting the best snaps of your garden, like filling the frame and getting an interesting angle.

Most people take garden pictures by aiming the camera downward, because it's easier than bending down or crawling in the dirt. The problem is our eye level may not be the best angle from which to take a photo. Try to move around and look for interesting angles—front, back, side, top and bottom views.

Also, Heffner says that cloudy days are better than sunny ones for getting good pics without harsh shadows. How's your garden doing? Post your photos in the comments.

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