The Viral "Chaos Gardening" Trend
Like Fight Club, the first rule of Chaos Gardening is that there are no rules. If you're a user of any of the short form video social media platforms (Instagram, TikTok, YouTube Shorts, etc.) then you may have come across this trend. If you have no idea what we're talking about, here's an example. In short, people are randomly mixing flower, vegetable, and fruit seeds together and randomly broadcasting the mixture across an area of their property. A lot of the ones we have seen show a transformation of a traditionally grass or planting bed area into a wildflower extraveganza. The results are often beautiful with an array of in-your-face colors from the variety of flower species.
Should You Try It?
The answer really depends on you and your situation. First of all, know that if you do give a try and don't like, it's going to take some work to get back to grass or mulch or whatever you're starting from. One of the benefits or ideas of these chaos gardens is that they're a self-sufficient ecosystems. In other words, they're low maintenance and you're going to get a lot of plant growth that would have to be uprooted and renovated to restore back. With that being said, if you've an area that you're sick of mowing or pulling weeds from, a chaos garden may be the solution.
When it comes to the mixing of fruit and vegetable seed part of the trend, we don't seem to understand it. From what we've ascertained, one of the ideas it that the variety of plants will result in a more natural ecosystem that will reduce pests and disease whereas having all of the same vegetable planted in a group can result in a pest that because nicely placed next to one another, can ransack your entire crop. The idea of farming and gardening, however, is to have a systematic plan in order to produce the most efficient yields. When it comes time to harvest a particular vegetable, for example, you're going to be running around trying to locate them.
That being said, we do like the idea of transforming, let's say a traditionally grass field or hillside into a wildflower praradise. With this, you're going to have less maintenance than the grass, which at least needs cut down a few times a year. Plus, you get the benefit of a beautiful scenery and an ecosystem that will be conducive to bees, insects, birds, and more, that traditionally are not going to flourish in a grass field.
At the end of the day, it's really up to you whether this type of environment is suitable to you and the area you'd be doing it in. If you end up trying it, let us know.
