photo credit: Ksayer1

Here are three  garden trends for 2010

1.  Main Street is in. Wall Street is out.

There’s a shift of priorities between balancing practicality with comfort and fulfillment. You will see more interaction in neighborhoods with a shift back to enjoying the backyard and turning back to gardening for produce, not just gardening for a pretty yard.

For those with limited space or time there is a move towards sharing resources, skills, space, tools and time. Mini community gardens or permission of turning a vacant lot into a street garden lot is popping up in many states.  The slogans “go local” and growing your own produce is bringing neighborhoods together.

This is a smaller more relaxed version of victory gardens form the WW1 and WW11 era.

2.  Mindful is in. Bling is out.

There is a feeling in many towns of giving, creating and collaborating. With the rocky economy and job loss across the nation sharing a passion and receiving recognition has replaced “taking” as the new status symbol.

Volunteering and a shift from “me” to “we” are showing in the choice for gardens and low maintenance shrubs and plants in the yard. There is a shift towards natural plants and drought resistant plants to reduce water usage.

There is also a demand for products made from recycled materials. Environmental issues and reusing materials to save money and waste will affect garden décor and landscaping.

According to the National Marketing Institute, four out of five people say they’re still buying green products and services today, which sometimes cost more, even in the midst of a U.S. recession. More than two-thirds say they will select green over traditional “if it works.”

3.  Eco-boosting is in.

Chemical dependent gardens are out. There is a movement towards organic pest control and naturalizing plants, which do not suffer as much from insect and disease problems. Naturalizing plants are replacing the more finicky shrubs and trees in many backyards and gardens.

Many of this years garden trends are based on preservation of the environment and a more relaxed, less expensive lifestyle.

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photo credit: Hair Squared

For 2010 recession gardening and perennial gardening will become a more important part of my garden plans.

Community gardening has always been an interest to me and recently Recession Gardens their benefits for our health, environment and economy have become a focus of my garden plans for the future.

This year I plan to document my recession garden plans and start early. As a matter of fact I have a winter recession garden ready to start. It’s amazing what you can plant in the winter in the house or a small hoop house or greenhouse. I plan to push the limits of what can be grown and see if I can get more than salad greens, mini tomatoes, herbs and strawberries to produce.

Last years Recession Garden.

Last year I planned a 20-dollar Recession Garden. My goal was to start a garden using only $20 for any seeds or garden tools. I grew 20 plus vegetables, most from seed but some vegetable do better from transplants so I bought a few plants. I easily managed to stay within $20.00, using a few frugal gardening techniques.

Overall the garden was successful. I saved over $2000.00 in grocery bills and still have some of the garden harvest frozen or canned. And I know what chemicals were used on my produce – none!

My biggest changes in gardening last year were the use of small space gardening techniques, more use of container gardening and growing more crops under cover. Our summer was so wet and cold at night I moved most of the garden under cover and plan to garden this way from now on.

photo credit: Gardener_24

Why garden under cover?

• Less insects
• it solved the small animal destruction I have had for years
• more control over climate and moisture issues
• tomato blight can be controlled easier
• it leads to time and back saving ideas.
• extended gardening season
• your garden location is usually closer to you home, or attached.

But gardening under cover meant I had to learn to water differently, control the climate if I had hot days and make and recycle soil and planters. It was a learning experience and I must admit I lost a few plants.

So this next week is “order any seeds I want” and start my winter recession garden.

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This is also the area where I plan the garden activities and garden and backyard design.

Your garden potting table can be on the patio, garage, storage shed or in a utility section of your garden area. The table or bench size and accessories will be based on the requirements of the garden.  By using a potting area you can better utilize you small space garden areas.

Some potting tables have two or three shelves to store small garden tools in the lower shelf and garden supplies in slightly higher shelves.  If you have small children it’s best if the shelves have doors and locks. Pets are also a concern and any chemicals need to be put away from inquisitive noses.

The Potting area will also help the gardener to keep garden supplies away from rain, mud or insects.

Many lower shelves on the potting bench or table will also serve as incubating place to grow small seedlings. Temperatures and lighting can be controlled here to help produce healthy plants.  You will even be able to extend you gardening season with seedlings if you can enclose the lower shelving area with glass or plastic and create a mini greenhouse effect.

My potting bench is made from rustic wood with an aluminum table top and hidden sink area. I have two shelving areas below the bench and the back of the bench has two shelves and a pole up above where I can hang hanging baskets. This arrangement makes to most out of my available space.

I also have wheels on the bench so that it can be moved for cleaning or indoors in the winter to use for my winter plants.

There are many potting tables and bench from a rustic look to beautifully hand crafted cedar or teak potting tables. Your home design, use and budget will determine what style you choose.

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photo credit: Handolio

So I am not burned out on gardening this year and there are areas I want to experiment in. One area is small space gardening techniques, growing a variety of plants in a small space to see exactly what I can successfully grow.

Another area is hydroponic gardening.

When I first read about hydroponic gardening I was put off on this style of gardening. The list of chemical made me think the food would be toxic! But as I read more these are chemicals in the soil and are needed to grow. We also need these chemicals in our systems to be healthy.

So this winter I will be experimenting in different styles on hydroponic gardening. Vertical gardening, growing walls and greenhouse hydroponic will all be in the plan.

photo credit: _foam

So if you are a pro in hydroponic gardening join in and offer suggestions.

And if you are a novice, like me, be prepared for an adventure.

In the next few weeks you will see a lot of articles by guest writers who know about this topic than I do. And hopefully in the late winter and spring I will have a wonderful garden to show off.

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photo credit: Mike Raybourne

They have realized that fresh vegetables, fragrant flowers and savory herbs are possible to grow, even in the smallest of spaces. A tiny urban plot, a balcony, sunny windowsill, or even by using a community garden, they can grow fresh chemical free produce.

Gardening Tips for setting up a small Urban Garden

Evaluate your space. Make the most of the space you have. Sit down and draw up a plan, Grow what you will use the most or have trouble purchasing and set up a program to share produce with you neighbors. They may have more room to grow certain crops than you so.

And if all else fails, sign up for a community garden spot. Many cities and towns are offering space for people to grow plants and vegetables.

Enrich the soil. Having limited space means that your soil will work harder to produce crops in a smaller area. You may also be using succession planting techniques (growing several crops in a row in the same space) so make sure your soil is loamy and full of compost.

you can improve your soil by checking with your local parks department to see if yard waste is composted for community use. You can also collect leaves and grass clipping from neighbors.

Apartment dwellers can start a vermi compost bin in their apartment and make compost using kitchen scraps and earthworms. It’s amazing how much compost you can make in a garbage can.

Keep your garden area clean and tidy. A clean garden area has less insect and bug problems so remove any dead or weak plant leaves. Weeds should be pulled daily and they can be added to a compost bin. If you want to cut back on any weeding add mulch. Mulch also has the added advantage of keeping moisture in the soil making watering easier.

An advantage city gardener has with a smaller garden area is the time it takes to maintain. A small plot can easily be watered and weeded in 20 minutes a day where a large garden can take hours each day. And a container or windowsill garden only takes a few minutes each day.

Grow your crops vertically. If your available gardening area consists of a narrow rectangular space or a small balcony area or patio corner train miniature vegetables, tomatoes and flowering vines to grow up a trellis. Many seed companies have a wide selection of miniature vegetables for small gardens areas.

An entire salad garden can be grown in a window or container planter by selecting ‘Micro-Tom’ tomatoes, mini lettuce varieties, sweet onions or a clump of chives in a container. You may even have room for a cucumber plant.

Many trees can be grown in containers and set out on patios and along property lines in the summer. If you grow small fruit trees you will have the added benefit of fresh fruit.

Protect your clay and stone pots from freezing temperatures by bring them indoors in the winter.  You can also wrap the large pots with plastic bags filled with straw to prevent water penetration, which will crack clay pots in freezing temperatures.

If you don’t have storage space or don’t want the extra work of storing pots, use faux stone or faux terra-cotta pots made from plastic. These pots are light and less prone to frost damage.

With the cost of food skyrocketing and the fact that the world is not producing enough food to feed the people its important to raise what you can to help your budget and help our world.

There are many articles on recession gardening at Recession Gardening garden plan.

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photo credit: nessguide

These mini container gardens will take very little time and with a tea garden theme you can have fun with the containers.

Setting small mini gardens will make them portable so that you can move them in the house when cool weather arrives. This garden will provide a year round supply of tea and plant variety to your house.

Select an appropriate container for your tea garden. You may prefer to have everything in one large container, or to have a grouping of container tea gardens. A grouping will allow the plants more room to grow and thrive plus give you more creativity in arrangements and pots.

Clay pots work well for proper drainage but you can use any pots that have a hole for drainage in the bottom and add pebbles or terra cotta pieces in the bottom of the containers for drainage. I use a coffee filter over the drainage holes to prevent soil from leaking out. I also sit my containers on a tray with pebbles to catch any water that drains out and to add humidity around the plant.

You will need a nutrient-rich potting soil or compost. Check to make sure your pot has good drainage in the bottom and fill your pot almost completely full with the soil. Herbs do not use as much water as some plants so water carefully once you plants are growing.

It will be fun to choose the herbal tea plants that please you and will make fine teas. I like many of the thyme herbs. You can check you local health food store to get ideas for herb plants and search online for herbal tea recipes.

Mint and balm family herbs are very popular for tea blends. Other plants suggestions would be different sage plants, pot marigold, cilantro, basil and lavender.

Plant your herbs according to the instructions that come with each plant or on the back of the seed packets. Be careful not to crowd the herb plants. I plant one to two per smaller containers and 5 to 6 for a larger container.
photo credit: themissiah

Herbs thrive in full sun with well-drained soil so choose a sunny room or window. If you use your herbs on a regular basis they will not become overcrowded in the containers.

Enjoy your herbal container garden!

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