This article was originally posted at PennLive.com. It will be interesting to see how these trends unfold in 2010.
Gardeners will dig even deeper into old-fashioned values around the yard in 2010, trend-watchers predict.
Tops on the list: another increase in traditional vegetable gardening.
Veggie gardening was up nearly 20 percent this year on top of a 10-percent gain the year before, according to National Gardening Association research.
The leading three reasons: better taste, saving money and better quality food.
Hand in hand with that came hefty resurgences in seed-starting and the home-canning of produce -- two other age-old practices that had tapered drastically in the last generation.
Annette MaCoy, who coordinates Cumberland County's Master Gardener program, believes we'll see even more of these trends in 2010.
"The economy will still encourage ways to save money on groceries," she says. "Plus there's the concern over pesticide-laden foods."
"With the cost of gas and so many folks without jobs, it's a way to feel satisfaction and accomplishment," adds Hershey Gardens horticulture director Barbara Whitcraft, who also sees vegetable growing as 2010's hottest local gardening trend.
Deb Laudig, a co-owner at Ashcombe Farm and Greenhouses in Monroe Twp., believes even small-yard owners will get into the act by growing edibles in containers and in new products such as the "Pop-Up Herb Planter"
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-- a $12 polyethylene bag that expands 2 feet tall in summer, then folds flat for winter storage.
Organic surge
A second key trend is a continuing move away from synthetic-chemical fertilizers and pesticides and toward natural or "organic" products.
You can read this article in its entirety at PennLive.com
Gardeners will dig even deeper into old-fashioned values around the yard in 2010, trend-watchers predict.
Tops on the list: another increase in traditional vegetable gardening.
Veggie gardening was up nearly 20 percent this year on top of a 10-percent gain the year before, according to National Gardening Association research.
The leading three reasons: better taste, saving money and better quality food.
Hand in hand with that came hefty resurgences in seed-starting and the home-canning of produce -- two other age-old practices that had tapered drastically in the last generation.
Annette MaCoy, who coordinates Cumberland County's Master Gardener program, believes we'll see even more of these trends in 2010.
"The economy will still encourage ways to save money on groceries," she says. "Plus there's the concern over pesticide-laden foods."
"With the cost of gas and so many folks without jobs, it's a way to feel satisfaction and accomplishment," adds Hershey Gardens horticulture director Barbara Whitcraft, who also sees vegetable growing as 2010's hottest local gardening trend.
Deb Laudig, a co-owner at Ashcombe Farm and Greenhouses in Monroe Twp., believes even small-yard owners will get into the act by growing edibles in containers and in new products such as the "Pop-Up Herb Planter"
Organic surge
A second key trend is a continuing move away from synthetic-chemical fertilizers and pesticides and toward natural or "organic" products.
You can read this article in its entirety at PennLive.com
