Photography credits: Teresa Lubano
Have you ever considered owning a plant? What do you consider important when to own one? For me it has been only a mere thought. Nothing more. I can get indolent when it comes to taking care of a pet let alone a plant. Occasionally, varied thoughts cross my mind. But as I write this, I am sipping something while I bid time to when I will own a plant. This is a mixed experience for me – the uncertainty around having a garden.
Even in that there is some hope around having a garden. You can start with one plant. Then two. Three. And finally a gang of your choice. There are trends you can pick on to develop your gang and in your own taste. It involves the ways they have been tended for and arranged. It spikes a desire for you to have such in your home.
There is one secret behind achieving that – home gardening. There has been a growth in people who are having their own gardens. And good thing you can be among them. Fulfilling the desires to see a garden flourish. As you aim to have your own home garden there are trends for you to pick from.
Quite often you see a friend doing well with his or her plants in the backyard of his house. And it is easy for you to evaluate that they are doing well. However, when it comes to you thinking about having a set, you think to yourself that it is hard to have them. And to even maintain. It is quite effortless when you have an ally.
However, it is in the little efforts do we see plants thriving. Intentional efforts to sort and layout a gang of plants the way you wish.
There is extra comfort that comes with owning a garden. Its comes as a double portion. Imagine the beauty and scenery you get from the greens around. As well the food experience within your kitchen from the edible plants like the rosemary, or stevia and others. Besides, some plants like the lemongrass smell nice. So, try out having a garden and build your experience.
Caring for a plant, I read somewhere, even makes you a better lover. It teaches you to care tenderly for everyone and everything.
Now widely and wildly there are popular ideas that you should consider to have your set of blooms whether for the beauty, scent or edibility.
What’s a better solution/process to this problem? How can I back it up with evidence?
Low Maintenance
Does this look like an idea really? Depends on how you look at it. And when you look at it well. A word will race through your mind. Sustainable.
In the world of sustainability, anything you do should have less footprint in terms of the resources it uses. So, with regard to your ambition to have a home garden aim to useless. Not that the plants will need a vet occasionally. But enough water and fertilizer are pretty much what is needed.
Another factor is the foliage that does not grow fast like the fern plant. So you won’t have to trim very often.
Growing Vegetables
Photography credits: Teresa Lubano
Our stomachs are some machines. And they require food inputs now and then within a day. Fortunately, a home garden offers the opportunity to grow food. However small your garden is, it can supplement what comes into your kitchen and finally into your stomach.
In a way, this is a subset in the world of sustainability. Because it is more likely hoe gardening is organic farming. As there is limited use of fertilizers, pesticides and genetically modified organisms.
And conversely, you could have reservations that a home garden won’t provide enough. Well, some plants will require more space which you do not have. For instance sukuma wiki – the most popular vegetable in Nairobi. But if you have at most a metre by metre of free space, you can have some edible herbs like parsley or coriander.
Vertical Gardening
Live in an apartment or condo and there is limited space? Put your plants using this new creative way – vertical gardening. This works for anyone even if you have extra space. Additionally, it is creative as it provides a canvas along walls and fences to decorate using plants.
Well, there are quite a number of ways to achieve your vertical living art:
- You can mount staghorn fern on a board wrapped in a burlap which you can then hang on a wall.
- You can plant some herbs on wall planters and have your desired greenery
- Have your plants grow in wall vases
- Have your herbs grow on a planter wall with terracotta pots
Sustainable Soil
Photography credits: Teresa Lubano
This topic around sustainability will not evade us. Imagine there is something called sustainable soil. Think of anything in the world and precede it with ‘sustainable’.
Seemingly that applies to the soil too. It happens in the sense that plants need good soil to thrive. Good soil is fertile. And you can achieve that using fertilizers. However, the use of fertilizers is not as sustainable as it disrupts the natural soil setup. So, the alternative is green compost waste and wood fiber.
How do you benefit from sustainable soil? Gut health is promoted. A past study confirms a health connection between soil bacteria and the health of your stomach. So, get to promote your plants to grow in sustainable soil.
All this did not happen in vain. I wished to share with you what’s latest in home gardening that you could easily adopt. But then you cannot adopt them without having herbs and shrubs to plant. Therefore, recently us at Shop Nanjala started a product-service for you.
The product is gardenbox. And within three months of your subscription, there are several goodies you can get depending on the package you choose. There is the budding, blooming, and edible organics packages. Budding is for you the starter in plant ownership. Blooming is for you the previous plant owner. And edible organics is for you who wants to upgrade your plant ownership to have a kitchen garden.
Go check them out and pick your style.