Improve Your Space With New Ideas from Landscaping Experts
We’ve all heard by now that getting outdoors on a regular basis can do wonders for our mental and physical health. The hints of spring we’re beginning to feel tell us this is a great time to make some adjustments in our outdoor landscaping and furnishings.
In fact, design experts are suggesting that enhancing the livability of our patios, porches, gardens, and lawns is the next big home trend for 2022. By embracing more efficient design and a bit of rearrangement, you can help lower your maintenance time as well. Making some practical reassessments that can lure us outside and make our outdoor space more livable all year.
Outdoor living experts Blythe Yost, CEO of Tilly (an online landscaping company), and Angelo Randaci (a master gardener and horticulture specialist) propose five key trends for outdoor time in 2022. These trends may provide you with some inspiration to help you optimize your outdoor living space.
Maximizing Outdoor Space
“Cultivating smart, small gardens, especially for apartment dwellers, will be a popular landscaping trend in 2022,” Randaci says.
The best way to make your gardening space more efficient is by planting your vegetables, fruits, herbs, and flowers in container pots or raised beds. You can even create your own vertical gardens. Streamlining this space with these time-saving approaches means lower maintenance and more flexibility in your garden design. As a bonus, these types of gardens offer the perfect backdrop for entertaining. They establish a colorful, relaxing atmosphere for garden parties or cocktail hours.
Continued Interest in Kitchen Gardens
Early lockdowns of the pandemic prompted many home-bound workers to go all out with large vegetable gardens. However, these same enthusiasts found they didn’t have time for the upkeep once they returned to work. Wonderful alternatives to these large gardens are available.
Current backyard “replacement” plots are emerging, reflecting the gardeners’ personal culinary interests. Among the most popular of these niche gardens are those featuring only herbs or microgreens, as well as novelty gardens, such as pizza gardens or tea time gardens.
These outdoor plots are smaller than conventional vegetable gardens. You may plant them just steps away from the kitchen, sometimes in pots on the patio or apartment balcony.
In addition, indoor smart gardens offer home cooks the convenience of growing lettuce, microgreens or herbs right on the kitchen counter. Among these indoor garden options are Inagarden, AeroGarden, and Click & Grow.
A great tip for gardening parents: choose vegetables and fruits that your children like to eat. This helps make the garden a family activity while encouraging them to eat the nutritious foods they helped grow.
Seeking Out Eco-Friendly Practices
It is anticipated that outdoor living spaces in 2022 will be challenged on issues of potential hazards to environmental quality.
Yost expects to see an increased awareness and understanding of the harm that can be caused by invasive species. Invasive species are defined as “an indigenous species whose introduction into a region in which it is not natural and can disrupt the ecosystem, including insect populations, native plant life, farming, soil, and waterways.”
This concern may lead to increased awareness of the importance of green space protection through xeriscape landscaping. Xeriscape lowers water usage and encourages the use of native plants, thus removing the use of pesticides and fertilizers.
Other trending environmental concepts include stormwater mitigation to help stop water pollution and eradicate drainage and flooding problems.
Pet-Friendly Landscaping
With many Americans adding pets to their families during the pandemic, a trend toward pet-friendly landscaping is building. Landscaping experts expect that these families will add dog-friendly areas to their lawns. This includes the use of synthetic turf to act as a “bathroom.”
Synthetic turf only requires an occasional wash-down and can save your green spot. Experts also expect homeowners to invest more in fences and dog runs to keep their pets active and engaged.
More Outdoor Entertaining Spaces
Outdoor living space is expected to continue its place as a priority in 2022. Outdoor kitchens will be the most coveted addition. This amenity will expand from its equipment of a grill and small refrigerator to a fully equipped cook space with storage and counter space. With a push to move more home entertaining outdoors, guests will be treated to more elaborate bar areas.
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