Trends in Gardening

     Gardening can be beneficial to your budget and your quality of life. You can have a wonderful vegetable garden and a great looking yard at the same time! With the economy giving us a chance to stretch our creative thinking and budgets and food trends leaning toward healthier habits gardening is a wonderful avenue. Great for the budget, wonderful for your health and a great way to exercise and reduce stress its a win win situation. 
     For the month of February you may want to think about what you want to plant and start on some of the cold weather crops like peas and broccoli. Soak peas mid month and plant in early March. 
     Here is a great link for gardening to get ideas for things to grow -   garden.org  - in the reference section click on Zone finder, type in your zip code to find which hardiness zone we are in. Click on related articles to learn more about our area.


Another great link for scheduling planting is  -  http://www.thevegetablegarden.info/planting-schedules  -  click on zone 5-6 to find a schedule of what to plant and when so your vegetables have the best chance of survival.


Trends in Gardening this year: 
1.  Urban Vegetable Gardens in Place of Flowers - look to see more people planting zucchini and Kale where their petunias and marigolds used to be!
2. Planting your vegetables in colorful and unique patterns rather than in rows, for added visual appeal
3. Heirloom tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables that have unique flavors and colors
3. Indoor Herb Gardens and Potted Herbs rather than decorative pots of flowers or combinations of both. Using containers with "vintage" finishes on them such as rusty or aged looking pots. 
5. Eco friendly gardens - increased butterfly, bee and bird friendly plants such as the butterfly bush, milkweed, echinacea plant,  honeysuckle, madame Galen trumpet vine, zinnias, asters, verbena, lantana and sage to name a few that have worked well in my yard.
6. Fruit trees that grow next to your house or are tall and skinny, reducing the space needed to grow fruit trees in urban yards. 



for an article with great pictures on Urban Garden Trends check out  http://www.bhg.com/gardening/gardening-trends/top-garden-trends/