MENULast May, we introduced the concept of integrating edible plants (veggies) into your flower beds. At the time, this was a relatively new concept that was just starting to gain traction. Well, it appears that it didn’t take long to find significant appeal.Each year, the Garden Writers Foundation sponsors research into garden trends for the upcoming year. So hot on the subject of edible gardens were the people who wrote the survey questions that this year’s survey concentrated solely on edible landscapes.The GWF survey found that 58 percent of the respondents plan to grow edible plants in 2015. A quarter of the respondents plan to plant edible plants in the ground, while nine percent (one in 10) plan to use containers and 24 percent plan to use both methods.Forty-four percent of consumers responded that they grew edible plants in 2014. Of these, 38 percent, or 1/3 of them, said they planted edible plants in the ground; 15 percent said that they used containers and 32 percent said they plant in both the ground and containers.A quarter of last year’s respondents didn’t grow edible plants because they simply lost interest in the activity; 18 percent said a lack of success was the reason. “Too much work” was mentioned by 17 percent of respondents, with “took too much time” (14 percent) and “too expensive” (7 percent) rounded out the top five.Of those not planning to grow edible plants in 2015, more than one‐third (37 percent) said it’s because they don’t garden. Nearly one in five Americans (17 percent) reported that they won’t grow plants because they moved to a home where gardening isn’t possible, while 9 percent said it’s too much work.According to respondents, insect and disease control (39 percent) and time (38 percent) are the greatest challenges to edible gardening. Wildlife control was considered to be the greatest challenge by 28 percent of respondents.If you really want to enjoy your own home grown produce this season but are concerned about pests and wildlife or don’t have the time, call us. Let our professionals help you design attractive planting beds that incorporate both traditional landscape plants and edible plants, and then look to us to help you maintain them. You’ll get the satisfaction of improving your family’s quality of life, and get ooohs and ahs from neighbors, without having to do all the work. You do as much or as little of the work as you want.
