Green gardening might sound repetitive, but it means organic gardening; not using pesticides and manmade fertilizers to make your garden grow. You don't need to know everything there is to know about a garden to start organic gardening, but knowing when things should be pruned, picked and planted is a good place to start. Green living is incorporating all parts of your life to be more eco-friendly, and that includes your gardening!

Here is a list of green gardening tips for the month of May:

1. Remove faded Lilac flowers

This green gardening tip helps promote better flowering next year and will rejuvenate tired, bare plants by taking out the thickest stems entirely.

2. Sow cosmos seeds

Cosmos is a type of flower that tends to become weedy, but if properly sowed (in a grid pattern) weeds can be deterred.

3. Cut back late-season Perennials

Cutting down about half of the late-season perennials helps promote bushier growth and better flowering. Contenders to keep an eye on are buddleias, eupatorium, asters and goldenrods.

4. Repot pot-bound houseplants

Repotting plants helps prolong the life of the plant as well as the beauty of the flower/growth of the vegetable. Simply take the plant outside and hose off the old soil. Trim the roots if necessary, then repot in a slightly larger pot than before.

5. Search for and remove aphids

Aphids can weaken plants and transmit disease, which is why they need to be killed as quickly as possible. The good thing is they're easy to get rid of. If you are trying to save money you can simply spray them water, or use an organic gardening insecticide like insecticidal soap.

6. Suppress parasitic leafhoppers

Use a green gardening safe horticultural oil to suppress the population from growing. Leafhoppers are most prevalent on black-eyed susans, coneflowers, and lespedeza.

7. Remove faded daffodil stalks

Remove the stalks, but keep the leaves until they begin to yellow in June. Be careful not to braid or fold the leaves, because this leads to bulb growth impairment.

8. Spray eastern tent caterpillars

A biological control called Bt can be sprayed on the larvae of these blue-striped caterpillars. These guys are especially treacherous to roses, crab apples, cherry and peach trees and cotoneasters.

Since it is May, don't forget your green spring cleaning either! Cleaning your house as well as cleaning your garden is a springtime tradition that not only cleans out clutter but can help your mental and physical health!

Melissa Rubin is a senior copywriter and Web developer at OTO Networks, a digital marketing company located in Baltimore, Maryland. Her primary responsibilities include SEO, link building and creating content for multiple sites. A preview of a site on which she has worked, http://www.AGreenRetirement.com, is available with this article.