From blueberries to houseplants ‘grow it yourself’ — or GIY -- is the new mantra as folks turn “back to the future” to simplify their lives while gardening for the greener good.

Americans craving authenticity and fretting over rising prices in gasoline and food has reinvigorated the trend to GIY.

“It’s a resurgence of gardening for the greater good — for the earth and our wallets,” says Susan McCoy, trendspotter and president of the Garden Media Group. “The most exciting movement seems to be that gardening is popular again, particularly among younger homeowners,” she adds.

Trend analyst Faith Popcorn agrees. “I think we are going back to the 50s decade," said Popcorn, who feels consumers are re-learning how to stretch a dollar as they grow food in their gardens.

According to the recent National Gardening Association survey, do-it-yourself lawn and garden activities were up more than a billion dollars from the previous year, to more than $35 billion.

"That's good news because it's the first year we have seen lawn and garden sales increase since 2002," said Mike Metallo, NGA president.

Do-it-yourself activities that showed a spending increase were lawn care, vegetable gardening, ornamental and herb gardening.

GMG’s 2009’s gardening trends reveals a resurgence in perennials, growing native plants, creating “blended” gardens using vegetables and herbs in flower beds, cultivating with best practices ‘au natural,’ planting to attract wildlife, and going local.

“The urgent commitment to environmental sustainability and the basic desire to make our homes our havens is reflected in all gardening trends for next year,” predicts McCoy.

For more information on the latest gardening tips and trends visit www.gardenmediagroup.com.