There are many types of gardens. They are all good for you in some way. There’s various types of gardens — categorized by what’s growing and in what they’re growing within.

What's Growing?

First, let’s look at the two most popular categories of what you’re growing: edible and floral gardens.

Edible Gardens

I recently read that food gardens are officially more popular than flower gardens. Both are very popular and beneficial. Both of these types of gardens beautify and therefore raise your property value. Edible gardens also have an obvious benefit — you can eat what you grow! This is often a healthy, more thrifty way to get fresh produce for your meals.

Floral Gardens

Whether you like leggy wildflowers blowing in the wind or manicured rose bushes, floral gardens offer beautiful blooms and foliage. If you plan it well, you can have color and curb appeal in your garden from early spring until the snow flies!

Edible & Floral Gardens

You can actually mix the first two gardens we discussed. Some of the very healthy leafy greens make for a decorative part of a flower bed. The tops of carrots look lovely and you can tuck squash or bean vines into a flower bed easily. Often mixing vegetables or fruit plants with flowers can have a benefit to each other. For instance, planting marigolds in your tomato garden can naturally help deter pests.

Where is it Growing?

Now let’s look at a few types of gardens, based on what they’re grown within.

1. Raised Bed Garden

This can be a few inches higher than the ground, raised by good planting soil and nutrients, and framed by wood, or it can be a whole bed three or four feet in the air. It just means the level of the garden is higher than the rest of the yard. If you have back or knee problems, the beds raised waist-high are great for you.

2. Container Garden

Container gardening means you’re using pots or various containers so you’re not planting in the ground. Often this is a good idea if you want to be able to move the pots around. It’s also a good way to expand your growing space; using a container means you can grow a tomato or rosebush on your deck!

3. Hanging Garden

Containers that hang are a good way to use more space or add visual interest at a different level of your home. Hanging a pot from your porch overhang and filling it with a vine that spills out elevates the drama and increases the beauty of your entry space.

4. Vertical Garden

This is exactly what it sounds like. Instead of spreading out over your yard space, grow upward. (If you haven't built a new home with Drake Homes yet, this is perfect for you condo and apartment dwellers.)  Vertical gardens can be established with stacking wall containers or using a planter designed to hang on a wall. bamamag.com . There are also new products coming out all the time, that make vertical gardening come to life.  This is a very hot trend in gardening because it’s so efficient with space.

5. Get Creative

You would be surprised to see how creative some people can be with their love of gardening.  With enough effort, we've seen that almost anything can be turned into a beautiful garden.

Many of the best gardens are grown within something you also have great interest in.  This can mean creatively shaping your garden, planting in a container you wouldn't normally see plants grown in, or wrapping your garden's inspiration around things that have special meaning for you.  Perhaps you drove away from your wedding in a VW Beetle?  If so, why not go crazy and replace the engine of this iconic vehicle, with a bed full of colorful flowers!

As you might imagine, gardening provides an endless amount of opportunity.  Whatever your inspiration, I encourage you to make it beautiful.

Grow & Share!

What do you grow and how are you growing it?!

The gardening community loves to share and discuss this wonderful activity!  Radio talk shows, TV programs, in-person gatherings, Facebook groups, Pinterest photos, and even ongoing Twitter discussions are just a few outlets where gardening enthusiasts share their passion.  #GardenChat on Twitter is one of my personal favorites, as it allows you to interact with other enthusiasts while sharing your own gardening questions, ideas, and photos anytime.

Gardening is a wonderful activity that provides a creative outlet that results in beautiful blooms and life all around you.  Since many of you reading this are home owners or soon-to-be home owners, it's important to remember that great gardens can also improve the look of your lawn and often raise property values as well.  Cheers to green thumbs this season!

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  Courtney Tompkins is the PR and social media manager for Pure Elements. 

Located right here in Iowa, Pure Elements lawn and garden products are sold at PureElementsOrganics.com or at locally owned garden centers.

To get more lawn and garden tips, click here or email me!