Top Garden Trends for 2022
A new year brings with it new and exciting trends in the gardening and garden to table landscape. We’re sharing our thoughts on what will be trending and popular with home gardeners in 2022.
Midnight Roma Tomatoes, Row7 Seed Company
Perennial garden trends
Definitely roses continue to dominate the perennial space. We are seeing a huge demand for all sorts of roses, but especially English roses – David Austin. These roses are not only incredibly beautiful but also fragrant.
Another trend is irises. This is sort of an old fashioned flower that’s finding its way back into the modern garden. Bearded irises in particular are quite intoxicating to look at.
The other trend that seems to be pervasive in ornamental perennial gardens is double varieties. So from tulips to peonies, varieties that are named double generally have a double set of petals, making the blooms look thick, full and luscious.
Trends in the edible garden
Trends in the edible garden are all about the epicurean experience. We’re definitely seeing an increase in mustard greens. These are annual greens that thrive in Spring and Fall and have a more bite than a traditional salad green. They come in a variety of flavours, including wasabi, and grow in greens and purples.
The other trend we’re now seeing is new seed producers who are breeding not only for disease resistance and storage capability but also for flavour. Row7 Seed Company is based out of the US and is a collaboration between a seed breeder and a chef, the renowned Blue Stone Barns Dan Barber. Row 7 is truly revolutionizing the way seeds are bread and are focusing on creating incredible flavours.
Our Master Class, A Year in the Urban Garden, has been a way for garden to table enthusiasts to embrace the edible gardening journey from seed to plate. helping our students by demystifying the process, from start to finish, has proven to be a very rewarding endeavor.
Another trend in the edible gardening space is all about preservation, canning, fermenting and dehydrating homegrown food. Gardeners are unlocking the power and health benefits of homegrown, local, organic produce and want to continue enjoying the bounty well into the winter months. This is a topic that is also covered by A Year in the Urban Garden.
What should we splurge on for the garden in 2022?
Definitely splurge on amending your soil with good quality worm castings for the beginning of the season. This is hands down the best way to amend any type of soil. Worm castings can be purchased, or made right in your own garden using an affordable vermicomposting system.
Quality seeds from quality producers will rarely let you down. We are huge fans of West Coast Seeds and Johnny’s Selected Seeds and recommend them to our clients and students.
The other item you might want to consider splurging on is irrigation. We know that climate change is affecting the weather patterns and our gardens. As we emerge from the pandemic and start to venture out, the peace of mind an irrigation system brings is worthwhile.
What should we save on?
Your local big box store probably has some good deals to consider. Hand tools will be of good quality and priced reasonably well. You’ll also be able to find some deals on dahlia tubers – we’ve found the very coveted Café au Lait tubers at a very competitive price and the same goes for large bags of bulbs.
You can also visit the dollar store, which has a surprising selection of gardening materials. Plant supports like bamboo, cages and tomato spirals are often found there at a big discount.
Lastly if you’re looking for seed starting and propagation materials, hydroponic stores often have great products at competitive prices.
Are there any garden trends we should avoid?
This is a controversial one, but we’re not fans of bicolor plants. There have been an influx of these – think of petunias that are both purple and white. We find them jarring to the eye in the garden.
We’re also not really on board with garden ‘hacks’ such as putting your egg shells and coffee grounds directly into the garden. Save those for the compost pile, then add the compost into you garden.
Lastly, the “regrowing trend”, where we see videos of people regrowing onions and lettuce for example from kitchen scraps. You’ll get more yield from microgreens indoors if that’s what you want to spend your time doing. Check out our Microgreen Growing Blog Post for more details.
Last year we saw a lot of items sell out because of supply chain issues, will that be the same this year?
Definitely. We would not delay in purchasing items for your garden that you need as you as they become available. We have seen entire websites for large nurseries sell out very quickly already this year. The demand is very high in the garden sector and purchasing power is also high as we continue to remain at home and investing in our outdoor spaces instead of spending our discretionary dollars on travel and dining out.
If you are interested in our courses or services, and need advice on how to navigate these trends, book a Discovery Call with us and we can walk you though the different offering.
