Gardening Trends We Are Begging You Not to Fall For
- Jenna Zanchettin
- Apr 27
- 5 min read
Updated: May 17
Pretty doesn’t always mean practical-and some trends just need to die in the compost heap. This blog post is a ROAST, so if you're feeling sensitive sit this one out as we were feeling SPICY.
Look, we are not here to kill your fun, impractical ideas. We are here to give you some hard facts. Because if you’re new to gardening and you’re getting all your ideas from Pinterest, TikTok, or that one friend who just got into houseplants-chances are, you’ve been conned.
Not everything that looks cute actually works. Some trends are just plain useless, others are plant death traps in disguise. So here’s a blunt list of gardening trends you should not try, especially if you want your herbs, veggies, or sanity to survive. Thank the garden god that pallet gardens are no longer trending.
Mint as a Companion Plant
A mistake you’ll never stop paying for.
On paper, mint sounds like a dream: easy to grow, pest-repelling, great in mojitos. But once you plant it in your garden bed-game over. Mint spreads aggressively via underground runners, and it doesn’t care who it pushes out of the way.
You’ll find it popping up in your carrots, tomatoes, beans-everywhere. And getting rid of it? Nearly impossible. You can dig, pull, but it just comes back.
If you want mint (and you should, it’s great), keep it in a pot. By itself. Unless you want to be this guy in the image. I bet he is having a mojito or two by now.
Herb Planters in Cane Baskets with Plastic Liners
Looks good for a week. Then it’s rot city.
Those rustic little herb baskets lined with plastic? Straight-up bad design if you are direct planting. Water has nowhere to drain, so your herbs end up sitting in a swamp, as herbs need drainage holes in their planter to thrive. The cane will also absorb moisture through condensation and goes mouldy pretty quickly.
It gets worse: once the soil’s wet, it stays wet. Then it swings the other way-you end up with fungus gnats flying around your head every night. Oh, and a mouldy bench.
And if the herbs didn't drown from too much water in the soil, you will have to contend with big root systems. In a small basket with barely any soil, they quickly run out of room. That kind of stress invites pests and diseases. Not cute. Do yourself a favour: use real pots with drainage holes. You can still make them look nice-but let the plants actually live.
Woody Herbs Indoors
You had a genius idea that rosemary would be perfect to have on the bench top to quickly pop on your roasted veggies. Rosemary, thyme, sage are tough, sun-loving herbs that thrive outdoors, known as woody herbs. Indoors, they get leggy, drop leaves, and slowly fade away. Why? Because your kitchen is too dark, lacks airflow and well, you're asking an outdoor plant to thrive indoors.
They need airflow, proper drainage, and plenty of direct sun. Not a cozy set up on the benchtop.
They’ll defoliate out of stress to try to protect themselves, and once they do, it’s almost impossible to bring them back unless you transplant into the garden quick smart (however, they may go into shock through being exposed to the elements). You’re better off keeping them outdoors in a sunny spot, even if it’s a pot on a balcony or deck.
Want indoor herbs? Try softer ones like basil or microgreens and raise them from seed, even try a grow light to help them along in the cooler seasons.
Wall Planters for Herbs
Herbs on the fence in wall planters seem like the vertical space saving hack you need...No its not. For this to function well, you need to set up a watering system as the space within the planter is so small that they dry out quickly and eventually die. Don't forget the element of wind, the planters are installed at a higher level so the wind gets in there and dries the plant out too.
Another thing about herbs is that they have surprisingly large root systems, and once the roots fill the planter space, there’s barely any soil left to hold moisture. And once that soil dries, it stays dry. The soil becomes hydrophobic, meaning water runs off instead of sinking in.
Water just runs off the surface or down the inside of the pot missing the plant all together, in turn the plants die.
Then you cry 'gardening is so hard'...No these planters shouldn't have been sold to you in the first place.
And if it doesn't die, it's just going to get stressed and then becomes a pest magnet. Hello aphids, spider mites, and scale.
Skip the vertical suffering until you're a seasoned gardener and set up a watering system. Use regular pots that can be watered easily.
Olive Trees Indoors
No, they are not houseplants. Please stop.
This trend has gone too far. Olive trees are not indoor plants. Full stop. They want direct sun, open air, and dry Mediterranean conditions. Not filtered light and air-conditioning.
Indoors, they attract scale (tiny sap-sucking bugs), drop their leaves constantly (more than outdoors) and end up looking like haunted sticks in fancy pots.
You’ll try moving it, misting it, cutting it back, but it won’t help. Unless you have a full greenhouse or a bright, heated conservatory, keep olive trees outside where they belong. If you like the half-dead look inside, get yourself a quirky Dracaena Marginata or an Elegantissima (which are hard to find). I'm looking at you home stagers and interior designers.
Gutter Gardening
We just CAN'T with this one. People are turning gutters into planters or troughs. For a place to grow actual food? Why?
Gutters are too shallow to support decent root systems. The soil dries out ridiculously fast, and you’ll be watering nonstop. Nutrients leach out, plants get stressed, and you’re left wondering why your lettuce is bitter and bolting.
Search 'growing lettuce in gutters' to see what I mean. Hell, even search 'growing strawberries in gutters'. The random people on the internet will install the gutters in their greenhouse or on the fence to grow lettuce in the gutters. This is one of those projects that looks clever for social media but isn’t built for long-term growing or for new gardeners. Use gutters for succulents if you must (or leave them on your house). But for veggies and herbs - NO, sir it is a hard pass for us.
Use something with actual soil depth and some decent drainage holes. I love the sentiment that you might have an old gutter lying around but who really does? And if you went out and bought some, expensive right. Just head to the op shop and find some old pots.
Thanks & Follow
For more garden inspiration, follow me on Instagram at Jenna Gardens.
Although this gardening blog shares my experiences and factual horticultural information, remember that your gardening journey is unique to you. Adapt, experiment, and learn from your own experiences; that's all part of the process.
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