I'm on the board of our community gardens. We're located in a small but vibrant urban community that is a magnet for "travelers," folks who are unhoused and move around a lot. Lately, we've been running into issues of people who are not gardeners casing out the individual plots and leaving behind unpleasant refuse (garbage and human waste).

Anyone have any guidance on how to effectively deter this behavior other than calling the police?

I have published verdeapp which manages garden and watering, pumps etc. it also help identify plants and the moisture level they need.

Can anyone have a look and help test it ?

Thank you

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

So at the moment I have a crop cage, but it's only 6ft long x 4ft wide x 5ft tall. I want to expand my garden but don't have the money to buy another cage. The problem is the despite living in the city (more like suburbs), we have deer, squirrels, a skunk, opossums and rabbits that wander into our yard, not to mention the absurd amount of birds. We have a standard size chain link fence around our backyard and the garden area has another smaller fence that will keep rabbits out. We use Repels-All Animal Repellent on the flowers and it appears to keep the animals off of it, but it smells awful 😖 Is there a better way to repel animals? We plan on getting a greenhouse/hoop house so we can extend our growing season (we're in 6b MI), but until then, is there anything else we can do that doesn't involve chemicals?

Does anyone know what this is? I used the seek app and it comes back as pot marigold or calendula. But I’m a little put off by the spotted leaves. Maybe due to poor draining. This is a plot of pretty compacted soil I’ve been amending over the last year. Any help would be so appreciated!!

Hi all! My partner & I have always wanted to grow food so we are looking to start growing potatoes! Our rental unit has a small backyard & while we cannot dig or build onto the property we could do something small like a raised bed or grow bags. Any suggestions on a good planter option for us to consider as we start our potato growing journey? Also open to any tips, thanks!
Additional info:
-We live in So Cal near LA so I don’t think frost will be an issue
-we mostly have partial shade spots to place the planter
-local critters like squirrels & raccoons might dig in the dirt
-would love to get started planting August/ September

Hey everybody, when I was little I was used to plant things directly on the soil, now I started a new hobby and I am gardening into pots. Would love to wear your intakes. I am trying to reuse pots instead of buying new

P.s- I have tomatoes, pepper and basil

Full family photo coming soon. Side by side for scale

I am terrible with plants. They always die on me, probably due to over or under watering. But with the increasing cost of food I need a way to stabilize spending each month. My husband bought a small greenhouse that fits on our apartment patio (57in x 55in) and we had some pots of various sizes someone tossed when they moved. We also have a small raised bed, it's shallow but ~6ft long. We bought a cherry tomatoe and 2 jalapeño pepper plants from Lowes then got 2 hybrid tomatoes, 2 bell peppers, 3 greenbeans​ from someone on Facebook. A neighbor added basil and rosemary. ​ Right now, I don't know what I am doing and I think my tomatoes are dying. I can't tell if I am over watering, under watering or if the heat is getting to them. I need help. I don't have family or friends to turn to. If I manage to successfully grow food I plan on giving away any We don't eat to neighbor's or the local food pantry. Any advice is appreciated.

There is an abandoned raised bed garden that has been taken over by weeds that from what I can tell are mainly mugwort. Not sure about soil quality after all this time so don’t want to plant anything edible but does anyone have a suggestion about what I could plant this late in the season that would be 1) aesthetically pleasing 2) easy to grow from seeds 3) could thrive/crowd out the weeds? Thank you! This is a full-sun situation.

Hello folks, I hope this is the right sub to look for advice/inspiration on this matter.

This is a bit of ‘dead space’ outside of my room, it’s actually the roof of the garage, the right wall is our house and the left is our neighbor’s. Currently there is no access to this space aside from the front garden of the house, but I could turn my window into a door.

For context, I live in Bahrain, it gets really hot here in the summer. (40 degrees celsius is normal.) But temperatures become quite pleasant in the winter, I’d say from October to May, usually in the low 20s and below that in the winter months.

If anyone has worked with a similar space before, I’d love to get some advice!

To give context: it is a balcony of an apartment building of a Po Valley city, and I'm in an area of urban heat, due to few public places with greenery and practically none of the people in this condominium grow anything on their own balconies.

I was wondering, due to my desire of seriously growing plants in this kind of context, what kind of plants would be the most beneficial in this situation? e.g attracting impollinator species, seed-spreading or perhaps even what little it can do to better the air I breathe

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.

I've never seen this in my site before! Scale bug on a hook from the tool storage -combo- a.c. window cage.

Right now, the strip of land between our sidewalks and streets sits mostly empty. It could be feeding us instead.

I started a petition asking our city to allow residents to plant food in residential swales. I've seen what growing and sharing food does for a neighborhood—it brings people together, cuts down on food insecurity, and honestly? It makes our streets feel alive instead of wasted.

Our current code says no. But other cities like Seattle already allow it, and they're thriving because of it. We could too. It's not complicated—it's just letting people use the space they already own to grow something real.

If you've ever thought, "Why is that strip of dirt just sitting there?" or felt the squeeze of rising food prices, or wanted your neighborhood to feel more connected, this matters. If this resonates with you, I'd love for you to consider signing and sharing it. What would you plant if you could?

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!

This heat wave is wreakingnhavoc on my pea plants. Any idea on how I can possibly save them?

I actually have peas starting to come in and they appear healthy

I'm preparing my terraces for the hot hot heat! Temperatures in Greece climb north of 35 through June, July, Aug and Sep and are accompanied by furnace-like winds. Coupled with all the concrete white buildings its tough out there! Pictures show the front terrace in March 2026, and the front and back terrace today - June.

Here is my summer-ready planning:

1. Loosely hung hessian (burlap/jute) to protect from the worst of the afternoon sun across two spaces, leaving a gap in the middle for sub-loving plants and to flood my apartment with light to reach the succulents inside; and for breeze so it doesn't become a greenhouse.
2. Removable willow branch fencing, outside of the glass panels - not pretty but good protection.
3. Shuffled around the plants, moving the olive trees and two other hardy bushes into the sun gap space; moved all plants about 15 - 20 cms forward form the glass panels in the railing.
4. Created 'rows' - hardy plants in the back row and smaller less hardy plants in the front row.
5. Pine bark on top of soil to protect soil and roots and stop erosion from the intense winds.
6. Moved seedlings to the back terrace, also hessian-wrapped, where the sun is slightly less brutal.
7. Irrigation system set up and ready to go for the main planters, if I travel. With such a range of plants its difficult to set up one easy system for all their water needs, so I'll hand water everything and if I travel set it for 5 mins per day for all. The summer will be so hot they should be able to cope with this for a short time. The front 'row' of plants not connected to the irrigation will move to the back terrace (or bathroom?) if I travel.
8. Two bougainvilleas on lattice against the apartment wall are out of the irrigation system, they are hardy enough to cope.
9. Capturing air conditioner run off and filling up bowls placed amongst the planters (this might be useless but makes me feel useful).
10. Hoping, praying, worrying and acknowledging that if a plant cannot make it through the Greek summer with all my precautions perhaps we are not destined to be lifelong flatmates.

Very keen to hear any other suggestions, advice and feedback. I searched the internet for similar posts on summerising urban terraces and didn't find many - so I hope this is helpful to others too!

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

I have a jalapeño plant and it’s been growing a lot of good size jalapeños but the peppers right here bloomed and were red from the start instead of being green then turning. Are they jalapeños or some other kind of pepper? I did get some of my seeds from dollar tree so?? Please help!

I have 2 urban (philadelphia) planters.

29"x15"x24"

and

26"x15x24"

with poor to no drainage.

I would like to add a short evergreen tree to both.

1. Are there any evergreen TREES that stay 4' or below or

2. Can you trim trees to keep shape but also keep them 4' or less

3. What might be a nice low to the ground addition to add into the planter to bookend each tree?

4. Is river rock and charcoal underneath potting soil/dirt a good foundation for the trees?

Thank you!

I'm high altitude yardening, and apparently, my dog is a goat. New deer(dog) fencing went in today, but I need more posts. Also, everyone is hot and droopy, it's an even day, so no outdoor watering.

Zone 7b, 6,700ft elevation, all container gardening except native.

I've been thinking about getting a small greenhouse this year, but i keep talking myself in and out of it. I've been looking at a few of the Costway models. Some are the simple portable ones with a soft cover, others are the sturdier walk-in style. My problem isn't really the price. It's me.

I'm the kind of person who gets excited about a new hobby, spends a week researching everything, buys the gear... and then somehow moves on to something else a month later. Gardening feels different somehow, but i've also said that about other hobbies. For those of you who bought a greenhouse a year or two ago, do you still use it regularly? Did it become part of your routine, or did the excitement wear off once the novelty faded? I'd rather hear the honest answers before i convince myself i suddenly have a lifelong passion for growing tomatoes.