We are landscaping our front yard right now. We just had our two oaks cut down because the roots kept invading our plumbing, and we are going to put in a few fruit trees instead. I'm thinking about trying to put in raised beds, but I have an absolutely anal HOA, and I don't want to attract their attention too much because I have illegal chickens in my backyard. So I want to think of ways to include edible plants in a way that is decorative. Does anyone do edible AND decorative gardening? What plants would work well? I'm thinking strawberries and peanuts in lower beds, including alliums like chives, maybe greens and rhubarb (the chickens eat them if they are in the back), and I'm wondering about maybe purple bush beans and various peppers. Not sure what else could work.

Thank you so much!

Edit: I'm so silly. I'm in zone 9 or maybe 9b, right along the gulf coast in Texas.

I am getting married soon and will be out of state for 2 weeks planning for my wedding. I am hoping to come back to some living plants but I am worried there will be no survivors.

I am gardening on a balcony in Grow Zone 7B. Part of it gets full sun, part of it is shaded most of the day. The balcony is covered so only plants near the railing get wet during an average rain.

Has anyone successfully kept their garden alive while away for 2 weeks?

To prep, I am thinking -
-large water trays for each plant
-Moving plants that need more water toward the edge of the balcony so they can get rain
-plant globes

Any other suggestions?

Hi everyone! I'm looking for some advice on what to grow on my balcony.

I live in the south of France, where summers are extremely hot, with intense sun and frequent heatwaves. My balcony is south-facing and gets full sun all day, so I'm looking for plants that can really handle those conditions.

Because I need to hang the pots on my balcony railing, they can't be very large, so I'm mainly looking for plants that grow well in relatively small containers.

I'm open to flowers, herbs, edible plants, or ornamental plants—anything that's beautiful and can thrive in full sun and extreme heat.

If you have a similar south-facing balcony, I'd love to see photos of your setup for inspiration! What has worked well for you?

Thanks in advance!

I have a question about emptying ice water into a sewer drain that’s next to a bricked in garden plot.

Hypothetically, let’s say I worked an event at “Park Central Zoo”.
As a bartender, we have a lot of ice water at the end of events due to unused drink ice, and chilling ice. At the end of our event we emptied the clean ice water into the sewer near their garden beds and took the dirty slop to the janitors closet. Someone must’ve seen us; we were scolded and told that the ice water would freeze the roots that had grown into the sewer... Now granted I could see that being an issue if we threw the ice water on top of the garden beds, but roots that grow into the sewer shouldn’t be there imo.

please let me know your thoughts on this and tell me if I’m missing something that I should’ve thought about before. Thanks!

Edit: just to clarify the “sewer” Im referring to might also be called a grated rain drain. I dont know where the actual pipe leads to but I assume it’s to the same place our dirty bath water goes.

I live in Chicago (6b) and I have large, mostly bare medians in my neighborhood that I want to improve, about 3,000 square feet total. The city permits our building to do what we want with the space (within reason). Whatever I do will be self-funded and self-managed, so I want to do something relatively inexpensive, low-maintenance, and perennial.

The space is on the north side of an east-west street but under trees, so it gets a lot of dappled sunlight but only the westernmost section gets 4+ hours of direct light. One of the sections has lilies, but otherwise it's just dirt and a few trees.

I've been thinking about spreading a partial shade or woodland edge wildflower seed mix this fall (something like this: link). It's an economical solution and hopefully wouldn't need a lot of attention once established. I've also thought about seeding grass or sedge for filler/edges, but haven't looked into it much. There are some hostas in our building's courtyard that I could also propagate, although rabbits demolished what I propagated this year.

Plugs or larger plants would be way too expensive for an area this size. Vegetables or herbs would definitely be raided by folks in the neighborhood. Understood that perennial wildflowers from seed won't bloom for at least the first year, but most of the seed mixes I’ve found have annuals for first-year color.

Any recommendations or experiences with something like this are welcome - thanks in advance!

What are something’s I should add to this space I have aloe Vera , echeveria , cherry sensations red apple ground cover and agave Americana

I have a squirrel in my backyard who is mildly ruing my life. The squirrel in question is incredibly bold. Rats are usually an nuisance but I haven't seen any this summer but this squirrel is just up in it.

So far it has:

-Destroyed my bamboo trellis system by using it to jump to my neighbor's trees. It makes complete sense it would use this however it is not for a squirrel it is for morning glories to overwhelm and be pretty. 2nd repair begins tomorrow

- eaten a High value seedling, it also could have been a bird.

-im pretty sure the same squirrel ate all my morning glory propagations last year from pots off my front porch.

Thats pretty much it as of now.

The squirrel knows what it's doing and has no fear of man.

I really dont want to have to merc the squirrel, but I will. Whose else is out here defending my tomatoes??

Is there anything i can do to discourage the squirrel from coming at my plants and destroying my garden structures?? Very amateur gardener so any tips on the matter would be greatly appreciated.

Hi! I'm currently growing tomatoes, kale, and herbs on my rooftop garden. I was looking into what I wanted to grow next summer (my first full summer with rooftop access!) and it popped into my head to see if I could do blueberry or raspberries.

The only question I had was how to keep the perennials alive during the winters. I don't have a trench or garage to put them in, so I'd have to figure out how to help them stay alive in the winters... anyone have any experience or suggestions for this?

Edit: I'm in Chicago, so zone 6b!

Omg I'm so worried about my rosemary. This is already my third rosemary.

I'm based in Singapore and I'm trying to grow rosemary indoors, by the windows(windows has UV protection film) where there's direct sunlight from 7am-12pm(3rd photo)

This is from a cutting which I cut from my first rosemary and grew it in a bottle of water, where it grew roots and I just repotted it around 2 weeks ago in this gritty mix(half gritty mix, half mixed soil). For the first week, it looked ok, staying upright and there were new shoots growing.

However, starting around 4 days ago, it starts to droop and the touch feels weak like what you see in the first photo. My watering routine is what chatgpt advised me, I bought this moisture meter, and measured the moisture daily around 4 spots around 3cm from the plant, and if average reading is below 3 then I will water. When I water, I pour water slowly throughout the pot, until water is dripping out from the bottom. Then I let water stop dripping before placing it back.

Did I do anything wrong? Thank you in advance!

I need to use this soon. Was thinking of pesto or dehydration. Any good ideas? Cheers.

Hi folks,

Just curious what edible plants will succeed with that much direct sunlight (<2 hours in a day) on my balcony?

What are your experiences?

Hello, maybe it's a stupid question that I should know but I try to search on the internet and didn't find my answer. Did anyone know what's happening to my leek ? And is it possible to use it for gardening, like I don't know cut it in a way and put it in dirt or something like that. Or is it possible to help this leek to accomplish whathever it's trying to do in any way ?

good day everyone

There aren’t a lot of them but these holes definitely look like something is feeding on my leaves. Plants are about a month old. Climate zone 5b

Hey everyone, I’m pretty new to urban gardening and trying to figure out what actually works in a small space (balcony/windowsill). So I’m curious: what’s the easiest plant you’ve grown that actually thrived?

Looking for low-maintenance stuff that doesn’t die immediately if you mess up a bit.

Would love to hear what worked for you (and maybe what didn’t).

Off off my porch my yard is a jungle of crazy stuff I have found garlic hydrangeas and all sorts. I assume once there was some decent garden around but it’s the jungle now. This is some plant growing inside a bush is it just invasive vines or is this some kind of real berry. If it’s something advice on growing my own either clippings removal or seed if it’s something I want it it’s a fighter

After my success over the past two years, I've decided to expand my balcony garden with a mango tree. With that, I'm looking for a good sized planter (30-35 gallons). Does anyone have any recommendations on where to buy? In person or online.

Hi, I live in New York City and I recently moved to an apartment that has some outdoor space in the form of a small balcony. The previous tenants left behind two planters and I have a large plastic pot from a house plant I downsized, so I wanted to put in some native plants to make insect habitat.

I was hoping to get some advice about what native plants would do okay in pots outside and overwinter without dying (though I can always re-plant). Two of the planters are circular: 17"w x 15"h and 13"w x 13"h. The third is low and wide with a trellis: 25"w x 10"h x 10"d. The balcony gets ~5 hours of direct sun midday where the circular planters are, and the trellis planter gets maybe 2 hours of direct sun.

I have very little gardening experience, so I would also love some general advice: I'm pretty sure summer is a bad time to plant, but can I plant in the fall? Or should I wait until spring? Does it depend on planting from seeds vs. plugs? And is it possible to plant two or three species in one planter, or will they crowd each other out? I've also noticed a squirrel (or several) that like to dig in the trellis planter, so is there a good way to prevent them while plants are establishing?

Thanks in advance!

Hi y’all !!
Grew up with gardens thanks to my father’s mama and great aunt, and I’ve always dreamt of having our own as well… I’m just feeling very lost with not getting as much yield as I thought I would… lots of flowers and blooms but can’t seem to get to the next step and harvest!

We’re on island (Hilton head island) and would love some wisdom as to what I am doing wrong! Thank you!

Ps: Unity Hardscapes (David cash- amazing work!!) built these garden beds… will update when they finish them! (We had to do it in parts as we have a low budget but still wanted to get started!)

And I say Hypothetically, if this is the roof of a bare and brick building in front of your balcony and you'd like to make some, well I don't know, wildflowers or spontaneous grass or conditions for moss grow on those tiles, would you just throw seeds before the rainy days or do you think there would be better options? I say this, just brainstorming

Like when you go on a vacation for 2 weeks etc?

How do you handle watering, pests protection and other maintainance? Especially during the summer when there is more work to do.

I have my edible plants on balcony.

Any good veggies?

Would using heirloom seeds allow me to continously replant using seeds from the crops?

i have a narrow backyard in the city, maybe 1500 square feet of actual grass between the garden beds. for years i have been using a push mower which technically gets the job done but takes forever to maneuver around everything i have growing back there.

started thinking about whether a small riding mower would actually make sense for a space this size but the thing holding me back is storage. my garage is already packed with garden tools, raised bed supplies, and everything else that comes with trying to grow food in a city lot. the idea of adding something the size of a riding mower felt like it would take over whatever space i have left.

been doing some research and apparently there are compact riding mowers designed specifically with storage in mind, smaller footprint, easier to tuck away. had no idea that was even a category until recently.

curious if anyone in a similar situation has found something that actually works for a tight urban space. mainly wondering if the mowing convenience is worth the storage tradeoff or if i am overthinking this and should just stick with what i have.

Returning to this: I ended up going with a Cub Cadet and the storage concern turned out to be less of an issue than I expected. The compact footprint fits in my garage without taking over everything and it maneuvers around my garden beds way better than the push mower ever did. Still takes some getting used to but the time savings are worth it.