Eco-Friendly Gardening and Urban Home Food Farming Grow in Popularity

Produce quality in grocery stores has consistently dropped over the last decade. While there are some vestiges of quality produce in high-end and mom-and-pop produce stores, the fading quality of produce all over means some kids are not even familiar with what a real tomato is. Spring 2011 trends in gardening include getting back to basics and growing quality food at home to improve taste, color and nutrition for everyone at your table.

Home Grown Veggies for Flavor and Safety

One of the top gardening trends for the Spring season of 2011 is growing food at home. As you may have noticed, industrial processes of farming have taken some of the flavor and color out of everyday veggies. Growing food at home not only helps you ensure that only the finest of care went into your family's food; it also produces more flavorful food so you can finally prove to your children that fresh veggies can be tasty.

If you have a yard, you can grow a healthy garden outdoors. If you live in an apartment with no yard, you can either opt for an indoor garden setup or contact your apartment manager to request some land for growing your vegetables. Just make sure you test the soil to make sure that is it safe for growing food.

Along with the home gardening trend this season comes an eco-friendly gardening wave from nurseries all over the United States. Those with enough ambition to grow food at home usually opt for the eco-friendly and organic route, which can both protect the environment and protect the quality and safety of the food that comes out of your garden.

Going Organic in 2011

For trendsetting beginners to the at-home gardening scene in the Spring 2011 season, easy plants to start with include the herb or tomato plants at your local high-end supermarket. Make sure you look for organically grown plants if you intend to keep up a completely organic garden. Of course, the only way to fully ensure that you get a completely organic garden is to grow your own plants in an organic atmosphere from seed.

You can buy organic soil at most home improvement stores, but make sure you sterilize it before you use it in your garden to reduce the chance of nasty pathogens and bacteria that can kill your budding garden. Many major soil manufacturers do not properly fertilize their soil, and things can happen to a bag of soil on the way that can contaminate it, so the best way to be sure is to safely and carefully sterilize your organic soil yourself.

Using organic seeds is a way to ensure that your seed plants were grown without pesticides, promoting the practice of organic gardening in the seed world as well as in produce made for consumption.

References and Resources:

Gardenerd: Organic vs. Non-Organic Seeds
Nursery Management: What are the Top 2011 Garden Trends?