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Garden Trends: Grow your Own (part 2 of 11)

February 11, 2009

We started out this series last week with the Eco-Boosting trend but I have found that I have so much to say that I am following up each of these posts with another over at Landscapedia.  The First follow-up on Eco boosting, with more ideas and products, can be found here.

Second up is Grow It Yourself (GIY or GYO) is In. Doing it ALL for Me is Out.

Improved taste and nutrition, Increased food security, reduced food costs, convenience, fun and exercise are all the upsides of the Grow Your Own movement.   But what if you don’t have room for a garden?    I have compiled some ideas for households, businesses, restaurants, and others that want to grow in limited spaces.

Virginia Berry Farm  offers a unique idea.  They sell a few varieties of four-way trees.   Each tree has 4 different varieties of fruit grafted onto one tree.   There are Cherries, apples, pears peaches, plums and persimmons.   The great thing is that multiple varieties of fruit can be had,  and a much longer fruit season can be achieved, for the cost and space of just one tree.  I found this pretty shot a four-way cherry tree on flickr.

Four way Cherry tree

Image source : lodi_son

If you have no space at all and you live in the UK,  try Landshare whose mission is to help make British land more productive and fresh local produce more accessible to all.   They are doing this by matching garden-less people who want to garden with land-rich people who don’t.   With allotment waiting lists massively over-subscribed and people across the country keener than ever to grow their own fruit and veg, the aim for Landshare is to become a UK wide initiative.   I don’t know of anything like this in the USA but I think it would be great!

And finally — if you want to go ‘old school’ about your garden, get seeds from the oldest of old school seed providers.  Hart seeds has been a family run business for over 5 generations.    I am especially fond of the Heritage Collection which not only is heirloom varieties of seeds, but also features the original packaging from 1892 when the company got it’s start.

Harts seeds

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