The urban jungle, bustling with people and car horns, built with cement and multi-storied buildings, is beginning to look a bit more like the actual jungle.
Homegrown food, community gardens and small farming co-ops are cropping up in cities throughout the country.
While urban gardening isn’t a new trend, it is catching on and gaining interest. As this trend changes and takes shape, find out how you can get involved and take advantage of three emerging trends in urban gardening.
It’s growing (pun intended)
Lawn and garden spending reached more than $36 billion in 2015, according to a press release by Garden Research, a research company that focuses on gardening and agriculture
As more and more people become interested in growing their food at home, incorporate homegrown agriculture techniques into your tool belt of skills.
Agriscaping can help you plan edible plant life into the design of your client’s backyards. Find out more and become a certified agriscaper at agriscaping.com.
It’s catching on with young people
Not only is gardening and growing food at home rising in popularity among families and married couples, it’s also growing with millennials.
“The highest spending (on gardening) was among baby boomers, married households, those with annual incomes of over $75,000 and college graduates—but the most important market force was 18-34 year olds. Five million of the six million ‘new’ gardening households were millennials,” according to research by the National Gardening Survey.
Millennials with an interest in gardening and urban agriculture could become a potential new client base. Reach out to young homeowners who might be interested in incorporating agriscaping into their backyards or apartment balconies and patios.
It’s sustainable
In addition to being aesthetically pleasing, urban gardening has the potential to create more sustainable solutions for urban environments such as energy savings and stormwater remediation.
According to a report by the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, a rooftop hydroponic farm in New York City is being designed to grow enough food for up to 5,000 people and prevent 1.8 million gallons of stormwater from spilling into local waterways.
Highlighting this and other benefits of urban gardening could set you apart when bidding on a job for a city landscape.
To find out more and discover products that can help you include urban gardening into your business offerings, stop by your local Ewing store.
For tips on planting urban gardens, watch this video.