Gardening resolutions

Start the new year off on the right foot with a few resolutions for your garden. Here are some gardening trends for 2017…

Alternative landscaping
Rooftop and vertical gardening is proving more popular each year as people seek to make the best use of the space they have access to.

Vertical gardening with herbs and vegetables, potted gardens, terrariums, and growing baby veggies for the table can all cut your food bill and create aesthetic enjoyment in your garden using the large varieties of greenery in many salad ingredients and even edible blossoms.

RESOLVE to find ways to make the best use of your space. Don’t allow yourself to feel hemmed into traditional gardening practices, instead actively seek out alternatives online and in gardening groups and community pages.

Colour use
The trend for bold elements and colour blocking has long been a significant factor influencing home decor. There is no reason why this thinking cannot also be used in the garden where using colour to add contrast to a setting and draw attention to an area you are particularly keen to highlight.
Using elements from home decorating like house walls, gates and fences to offset a splash of colour in the garden can create a very dramatic and pleasing look.

In addition to using colour to draw the eye towards an area you want to show off, using bold colour in one space can also detract attention away from others you want people to pay less attention to.

RESOLVE this year to use colour to its best effect in your garden and consider it carefully when planning your garden and selecting your plants.

Indigenous
The use of plants in their most natural environment is not a new trend. While in the past many might have believed the indigenous garden is a wild bush overgrown with plants that are not very attractive, this isn’t true. In KwaZulu-Natal, there are many varieties of plants that are indigenous and aesthetically pleasing and can fit into the structure and planning of any type of garden you might want to create.

There are many benefits of sticking to indigenous plants and these include the attraction of indigenous bird and insect life into your garden, less need for extra watering and more hardy plants which are adapted to the environment over years of evolution.

RESOLVE to ask about indigenous plants first when visiting your nursery or garden centre. Take time to find out about removing existing exotic plants in your garden.