We present the top 10 garden trends for 2022 and show what's hot for the new gardening season - from beneficial insects for pest control to digital helpers and soil he alth.
A new garden season always brings exciting new trends. In 2022, the focus will be, among other things, on greater sustainability by reducing waste and avoiding the use of peat or synthetic fertilizers. But also the greening of cities and the use of digital tools for gardening will be in trend in 2022.
1. Plant local medicinal herbs
Planting local medicinal herbs is not difficult and can also be easily implemented on the balcony. By cultivating the plants in your own garden, you can take advantage of the healing and he alth-promoting effects of these herbs at any time. Well-known and popular species are, for example, peppermint (Mentha x piperita), lemon balm (Melissa officinalis ), marigold (Calendula officinalis), chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) and common St. John's wort (Hypericum perforatum ). Most medicinal herbs are excellent for brewing a tea through which they can exert their effects. They can be hung up in bundles to dry so that you can also benefit from them in the cold season. Incidentally, if you have a garden available, you can use the medicinal herbs to create a beautiful herbal spiral.
Urban gardening continues to grow in popularity. This means gardening on small, urban areas or on your own balcony. With this trend, you can make a positive contribution to the urban climate and biodiversity in various ways. One way to beautify the city is to plant street beds with insect-friendly flowers. Plants that are attractive to insects can also be grown in pots and balcony boxes on your own balcony, such as herbs, strawberries (Fragaria), lettuce and balcony tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum ). AroundA vertical garden is ideal for using the limited space particularly effectively. Pot towers, hanging plant bags, hanging baskets or converted Euro pallets are used for this, for example. If you don't have a balcony, you should ask the city about community gardens - because such projects promote not only greening of urban space but also community cohesion.
3. Beneficial Pest Control
It is nothing new that beneficial insects such as bees also suffer from the use of certain pesticides because they ingest the insecticides, for example through the nectar. An effective and sensible alternative is biological pest control with beneficial insects. Neither humans nor bees or plants are harmed. In addition, you do not have to worry about possible residues of toxic pesticides when eating the vegetables later. For example, the larvae of the ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata) or the ladybird itself are used against aphids. The use of nematodes (Steinernema feltiae), which are spread over the irrigation water, helps against fungus gnats. To attract a few of these beneficial insects to your garden, it's a good idea to set up an insect hotel. This offers the little helpers shelter and living space.
For hobby gardeners and also in the professional field, more and more developed technology is available, which supports the cultivation. For example, cultivation planning can be carried out very practically using programs or apps. Even applications that help identify plants are getting better and better. Our free Plantura app turns your cell phone into a plant scanner in a matter of seconds, with which you can identify unknown plants. In addition, there are many other exciting functions in our app and new inspiration every day. In the application, for example, reminders of the to-dos of your everyday gardening can be set. In addition, you can constantly be inspired by our articles - and all this free of charge and always at hand.
5. Store fruit and vegetables correctly to avoid waste
Why bother storingWant to learn more about fruit and vegetables? Because in Germany around twelve million tons of food are thrown away every year. Approximately two thirds of these losses occur in private households and around half consist of fresh fruit and vegetables. The wrong storage of the products is one of the reasons - but the correct storage is not that difficult.
Carrots, for example, need high humidity, but at the same time they will rot if their environment is too humid. For an optimal storage climate, it is best to place your carrots in a closed plastic box with a kitchen towel or towel under the carrots to absorb excess water. You can easily store apples loose in the fridge, but be careful: always keep them away from other fruit and vegetables, as apples produce the ripening hormone ethylene, which causes other types of fruit and vegetables to age faster. Radishes actually only have one requirement: that you remove the green leaves from the radishes before storing them. But that doesn't have to end up in the trash either, it can be processed into a delicious pesto, for example, when it's still young and soft.
6. Create indoor jungleAnother big garden trend for 2022 is indoor jungles. You don't have to limit yourself to simple houseplants, you can cultivate true exotic species such as carnivores, palm trees or banana plants. However, please note the special needs of all plants. If necessary, you can also create a plant terrarium to do justice to the exotic species. The Kokedama is a very special method of planting. Translated, this means "moss ball" and describes a Japanese technique in which a ball is formed from moist substrate and clay powder, which encloses the roots of a houseplant. This is then wrapped with living moss and fixed with wire - the kokedama is ready. For instructions on how to make your own kokedama, see this article.
7. Do without peat and mineral fertilizers
If you want to garden with a clear conscience, you should consider a few points when choosing soil and fertilizers. Especially the choice of peat-free or peat-reduced substrates can save large amounts of CO2. Because the moors, which are destroyed when peat is extracted, are valuable CO2 stores and therefore absolutely worthy of protection. Fortunately, there are alternative materials such as coir pith, wood fiber, or compost for gardening needs. Also our Plantura organic soilsare of course peat-free or peat-reduced and thus save up to 60% CO2 compared to conventional soils.
When buying fertilizer, it pays off to focus primarily on organic products. In contrast to mineral-synthetic fertilizers such as blue grain, these promote the formation of humus and an active and diverse soil life. In addition, an overdose of organic fertilizers is hardly possible. With fast-acting artificial fertilizers, on the other hand, excess nutrients can be washed out into the groundwater and overdosing can also damage the plants themselves. Our Plantura organic fertilizers are therefore all primarily organic or purely organic and are also approved for organic farming.
8. Sow yourself instead of buying plants
Growing your own young plants means more time than buying the ready-made plants. However, seeing the plants grow from seed to harvest is an incomparable experience. In addition, you can choose for yourself in which soil and with which fertilizer the seedlings are cultivated. Growing your own plants is easy, even for garden novices. Then our Plantura propagation sets are particularly suitable, as they contain all the necessary utensils and detailed instructions in one package. The video courses included free of charge make sowing and cultivating the plants particularly easy for beginners.
If you would like to sow something new every month throughout the year, our Plantura Plantable Calendar 2022 is just the thing for you. Each month comes with a piece of paper with organic seeds that can be planted according to the instructions provided.
9. Promote soil he alth
If you want to cultivate he althy plants in your garden, you need he althy garden soil. Our garden trend number 9 is all about soil he alth and humus content. But what can hobby gardeners do to make their soil rich in humus and fertile and to keep it that way? On the one hand, a so-called humus economy can be operated - the humus content in the garden is increased with targeted measures. If you don't have the time and leisure for this, you can help with a soil activator. Our animal-free Plantura organic soil activator is a fertilizer that promotes soil quality in your garden effectively and with live mycorrhizal fungi. Soimprove the humus content and soil he alth - without having to run a complex humus management.
10. Support garden animals
It's not only worth supporting garden animals in terms of environmental protection. For example, if there are numerous insects in the garden, they can increase the fertilization rate of the useful plants or drive away unwanted pests. Anyone who creates a beneficial insect meadow in the garden supports bees, butterflies and the like with plenty of food and valuable habitat. Our Plantura insect-friendly seed mixtures, for example, are ideal for this and can even be sown on the balcony.
Wild birds are also regular visitors to domestic gardens and sometimes feel really at home there. With just a few tricks, you can transform your garden into a rich habitat for the small, colorfully feathered animals and thereby support the wild bird population.
By offering bird-friendly plants, nesting boxes or a watering hole, you can attract numerous garden birds and give them a home. Insectivorous species such as the house martin or the blackcap also benefit from a lively and insect-friendly garden. Seed-eating birds such as goldfinches or greenfinches can be supported with additional bird seed. Our Plantura all-season feed, for example, has been specially developed for year-round feeding and offers a large number of garden birds a balanced and high-energy diet.
Finally, we wish you a happy new gardening year and are already excited to see how our 10 garden trends for 2022 will establish themselves in the gardens of our readers.