This picture of a modern vegetable garden pretty much says it all: Homeowners are heading back to the basics.
The latest report on garden trends for 2010 from the Garden Media Group of Kennett Square, PA, says there's a significant shift in garden trends … away from lavish outdoor lifestyles to practicality and comfort.
Edible gardens, like the vegetable garden shown above, are in … and many are making the effort to get rid of their lawns. GMG notes a recent media survey by the National Gardening Association that reports nearly a 20 percent increase in "hobby" country farms and urban edible gardens over the past year.
Gardeners are also hopping aboard the sustainable gardening movement … installing rain gardens, opting out of chemicals in the garden, and putting in native plants that require less water and are resistant to pests and disease. Green roofs are going on top of buildings across the country … conserving heat in winter, keeping temperatures cool in summer, decreasing storm water runoff and even attracting wildlife.
If it takes some time for the US economy to fully recover from near collapse, as most economists are predicting, these new gardening trends are likely to continue well into the current decade.
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