Member2Member Advice: GARDENING

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A small dog posed as a gardener, leaning on a plastic children's wheelbarrow with tools nearby, all in front of poppy flowers

Am I surprised that we’re testing out another member idea from you all? No! Not at all! Because you all come with some really great thoughts, and, this is a permeable, interactive, community space, so thank you all for contributing to make it what it is! So, what is the purpose of this post? Well, you know how the comments sections of our advice posts are one of the best parts of the post? This post is all comments section. We’re going to keep these themes largely to more practical topics, so that we’re leaning into our strengths here. and essentially crowd-sourcing advice and skill-sharing with each other.

So! Now is the time to share you gardening questions, bring forth your vegetable sowing woes, ask if anyone knows anything about herbs! Let’s get dirty! Let’s get fruity! Let’s figure out how to get rid of those pests, where we can test our soil, talk about what we’re using for raised beds, for fertilizer. How many compost piles does everyone have?? No question [about gardening] is too big or too small! Got answers? We’d love to know about them! Thank you, you awesome blossoms for trying something new!

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Nico

Nico Hall is a Team Writer for Autostraddle (formerly Autostraddle's A+ and Fundraising Director and For Them's Membership and Editorial Ops person.) They write nonfiction both creative — and the more straightforward variety, too, as well as fiction. They are currently at work on a secret longform project. Nico is also haunted. You can find them on Twitter and Instagram. Here's their website, too.

Nico has written 239 articles for us.

114 Comments

  1. Aaaah I am so excited about this!!!
    My first question is: Is there a way to stop neighbourhood cats digging in my raised beds?
    I covered them up this winter but i have just planted my courgettes & some spring onions and they destroyed it!!

    • YES! This is a problem we have on our urban community garden. The neighborhood cats are all like, “Thank you for the giant litter boxes — how convenient!”

      The trick is to make your plots not fun to dig in. I use landscape fabric, the cats can’t dig in it so they move on. For containers I put flat stones around the plant to cover the soil. That keeps them out as well.

      Good luck!

      • Those are good tips, thank you!
        I have tried netting but one of the little rascals got under it and in the process created even more damage and chaos :)

    • I AM SO GLAD YOU’RE EXCITED! Cats can jump, so that’s annoying, but do you have any way to construct a cage you can put on top of the raised bed? I found this example of a very low-key one where you’re basically just wrapping a cylinder of chicken wire around the plants and staking it to the ground / tying it to stakes. You can also get more elaborate and make a wooden frame and roll out and attach chicken wire to all the sides (except the bottom) so that it goes down on top of your raised bed like a cover. I don’t know how large your raised beds are, but if that sounds too unwieldy, you could also maybe make a couple of smaller ones. I love the addition of hinges with this version here. Finally, this one has doors! Doors! The advantage with this solution is that it will keep other critters besides cats away, too! I do not know specifically about repelling cats in any way because I’ve never gotten a cat engaging in a behavior I don’t like to listen to me ever…which I think is a cat thing.

      • Garden cages are also a good solution, and definitely something to consider if the other suggestions don’t work. I have a tiny garden so the simpler the better :)

      • I have one of those giant grow bags and I use the chicken wire cylinder technique for that. It totally works!

    • Getting a dog :) ?

      Here is an article with some ideas:

      https://acmg.ucanr.edu/files/214548.pdf

      I have never had a big problem with cats (racoons totally different issue!!) but chicken wire sounds like a reasonable solution from the article above. Although some people find chicken wire unsightly – count me in as one of them.

      • I’ve got some established shrubs in my raised beds but anything I plant between them gets buried in dug-up soil or torn up by little claws. I can’t build a cage to cover the whole bed, but what I’ve found works is: either a decently thick layer of gravel/aggregate to cover all the exposed soil, or making a grid of bamboo or sticks to do the same thing. Either way, like Tracy said, you’re making it a less attractive/less feasible place to dig.

    • Once things have grown in and less soil is visible, the cats may be less likely to poop there. One thing that worked for me is using some cheap hoops and row cover/remay to cover my bed until things grew in. For another bed where I direct sowed some veggies, I covered with some chicken wire, which also worked well until things got bigger.

    • Hi Nora ! When I had a garden I found mulching (with straw) and covering the ground with small dead branches very helpful. It worked with my 3 cats anyway, they did not dig the ground where it was covered with branches, I guess because it made it inconvenient for them. Hope that helps ! Wishing you a lot of courgettes !

    • Chicken wire is my new strategy for stopping my dog from digging up the yard. I laid it down flat in the ground around established shrubs and over planted bulbs. She doesn’t disturb those areas anymore.

      I do not plant any food and I don’t plant in rows so I’m not sure how that process goes with chicken wire but maybe it’s easier because there are no established plants as obstacles to go around.

      I only plant a garden that is pretty to look at because I live in Brooklyn and I miss nature.

      I’m very very privileged to have the money to have a yard. Just want to acknowledge that because I hate when ppl have amazing benefits of privilege and don’t admit it.

      I want to see pics of all y’all’s gardens!!!!! Before and after pics! Pose w yr produce pics! Dressed in gardening clothes! Let’s get dirt under our nails!!!!

  2. Another garden question, which is more an inspiration question. What are your favourite things to grow?
    And what is the “weirdest”/ least well known thing you are growing.
    I am trying something called a lemon cucumber this year,and I am keeping my fingers crossed I will actually get fruit as Northern England isn’t the best place to grow cucumbers :)

    • My absolute favorite thing to grow is garlic, to like an obsessive level (I got a garlic tattoo a few months ago). This year I planted 10 varieties, 10 cloves each. About 4 didn’t sprout so I have 90-some blubs growing. They are the hardneck variety so I will be harvesting scapes soon! I also keep a garlic journal of what I planted and tasting notes.

      Otherwise, nothing I grow is too weird or obscure. I’m pretty practical and grow things I know my family will eat.

      • That sounds absolutely amazing. I love the idea of a garlic tasting. I have only tried garlic once with little success but maybe I should do some research into varieties that work well for my soil and area.
        I also love your methodical approach, my partner often giggles at my garden notebook. They say that I do really approach everything like a scientist but I think it is the only way to really learn and understand.

        • Just to clarify, with I only tried garlic once, I mean growing garlic. Eating garlic is an everyday thing:D

          • Lol, I figured. :-)

            You definitely need to find out what type of garlic works best in your zone. If it’s warmer, softneck garlic is easier to grow and has a shorter grow time. In colder climates hard neck grows well, but you have to get it in the ground in the Fall and you harvest in Summer.

      • YES!! I love growing garlic as well. Every fall (west coast), I plant a crop of garlic (somewhere between 80-120) and then harvest in June / July.

        I try to grow as much to last at least 12 months stored in a cool, dry place. My partner and I love Italian food, so GARLIC IS ESSENTIAL!!

        I too also grow hardneck and the scapes are a real treat to add to salads etc.

        Favorite garlic recipes?? Love to hear.

        • We try to plant enough garlic to last us throughout the year too. Between giving some away and our high levels of garlic consumption, and we make it to about December every time! We make garlic scape pesto and my friends got me a garlic cookbook for the holidays, so I will be trying some of those out.

      • i’m so envious of your garlic situation, tracy! i have been threatening to plant garlic for YEARS because i love the scapes so much, and last year i finally did it in october… and then i had to move and i won’t get to harvest that garlic or the scapes after all. i’m so so so sad. oh well, i guess i’ll plant more garlic this year and harvest it next year.

        garlic scape pesto is one of my favorite treats in the world! if you leave the parmesan out you can freeze it in batches and keep it year round (add the parm once it’s defrosted)!

        • Oh my gosh, that is such a sad story. I hope someone will be able to harvest them!

        • Hope you can plant a fresh crop of garlic!!

          Oh my gosh, I didn’t know other people make garlic scapes pesto!! We also make it and I love it. The excess we freeze to eat during the winter months.

        • Do you have a favorite recipe? my CSA always has a lot of garlic scapes in the early summer

    • Some of my favorite things to grow are actually fruits! I haven’t really written about them because they’re more longer-term. I have been taking care of some raspberry bushes and a strawberry patch I started from seed that is covered in flowers right now, so I’m very excited. I grew huckleberries last year and they were really quite fun, although messy! The weirdest thing I am trying might be rhubarb and after pouting for TWO WHOLE YEARS, now, in its third year, it actually looks like it is coming up strong. Knock on wood!

      • Rhubarb is delicious, but three years is a long wait! One of the highlights of my last summer was the people from the allotment i live near putting out their extra rhubard for everyone to use

    • My favourite things to grow are tomatoes and herbs; home grown tomatoes are way better than anything at the store and it’s nice to have a variety of fresh herbs on hand. I also do peas, beans, summer squash (pattypans or zucchini), and kale.

      I’ve experimented a fair amount with unusual and/or unusual-looking veggies because I used to have a community garden and people didn’t steal things they didn’t recognize… I like to grow Rattail Radish, which are radishes bred for the seed pods instead of the roots. The texture is sort of similar to a snow pea and you can toss them in a stir fry or salad. Sorrel and lemon verbena are hard to find in stores so nice to grow. I also like pineapple mint for cocktails. Edible chrysanthymum greens have a nice peppery flavour similar to arugula; once they bolt, the flower petals have a similar peppery flavour and the center of the flowers can be used for chrysanthymum tea, plus they are a good “trap plant” for aphids, which go after the foliage but don’t touch the flowers.

    • Favorite: Fruits (I have small grove of white nectarines, plums, pluots, apples and apricots)

      Weirdist / Odd: Artichokes, Rhubarb, tomatillos, beets (not so odd but few people grow them), pomegrantes

      Once I get the pic thing down can send pic of artichokes which are in season right now.

      FYI: I have grown lemon cucumbers before, hopefully they work for you. They are great in salads and more compact than a lot of cucumber plants.

      • Hi Christina, do you have any tips for keeping aphids from taking over your artichokes?

        I tried growing cardoons one year but they were absolutely covered so I never harvested them. We’re hoping to find some artichoke starts this year since the ones we planted last year didn’t make it and we missed the boat on starting our own this year.

        • KJ, thanks for asking. Aphid issues are among the most common questions we get at the MG Help Desk.

          Here is a great reference with solutions to remedy Aphid issues:

          http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7404.html

          The most effective approaches:

          – Sometimes spraying with a strong stream of water will knock them off but you will have to do it several times until they stop returning.

          – Most effective is Neem Oil. This is a natural oil (from the seeds of the Neem tree) and is completely safe and approved for organic growers. It is available in almost any nursery or garden store. Just follow the instructions on bottle for diluting. If infestation is real heavy, you might need to spray a couple of times but that should do it.

          Tip: if you ever see wasps (yes wasps!) around aphids, don’t spray. There is a very common parasitic wasp that will very effectively destroy aphid populations as long as it is not disturbed.

          hope this helps!!

          I would really encourage you to grow artichokes, we only started about 4 yeears ago and now its a real treat to harvest fresh artichokes (they are very expensive in our stores).

          • Thanks. I will look into getting some neem oil this year. I mostly relied on trap plants before because I had a community garden but now that I’m in a house it seems more likely that I can actually do something about aphids and some of the mildew problems I’ve always had.

            I’m planning to go hunt for artichoke starts soon but I can’t remember ever seeing them at a nursery here. We started some last year but they all died off. I’m not entirely sure what went wrong but it may have just been that the soil awful; we’re trying to improve it this year.

    • i LOVE lemon cucumbers — they’re so cute and pretty and in my experience grow quite easily :)

    • I love growing all the things (it’s my first season in the house my wife and I bought last July, so I’m low key out of control with plants 😜) but my favorite weird thing is ground cherries! They grow in little paper wrappers similar to tomatillos but sprawl across the ground, and taste like an odd but delicious mixture of a berry and a green vegetable. Perfect for snacking 💚

      • Never thought to try ground cherries! Now I will have to look them up and get some plants.

        Thanks for the inspiration!! Can’t wait to try it…..

    • I tried lemon cucumbers last year. I didn’t do very well with them but they were so pretty!
      I’ve got less space and just a balcony so this year so I’m not growing much – just tomatoes (probably my favourite) and these giant beans. I just managed to repot and get some sticks for the beans today so I’m hoping what I’ve constructed lasts the night. I’m struggling with what to attach the sticks too once they’re in the ground, so they don’t keel over and take the plants with them.
      I’ve also got something called Korean mint, which apparently isn’t actually mint…

  3. Are there any apartment dwellers out there who have successfully grown vegetables indoors? Mainly lettuce – I’ve never gotten it to grow past the sad adolescences stage indoors. Although if you’ve gone full on container gardening without a balcony I’d love to hear about it!

    Also has anyone tried building one of those plastic bottle vertical window gardening setups and if so did it work and how messy was it?

    • So, I live in a city where there are a lot of people selling their pandemic aerogardens and similar products. Mine grew lettuce beautifully and I had two salads a week for three months. I’m in the process of getting another crop going using my own seeds and growing medium. I have to say I’ve been trying a few different growing strategies and sure enough, the pre-made device has been by far the easiest and most successful.

      I am trying to grow tomatoes indoors using large crates, an air stone, and a grow light. I am really struggling with the learning curve on a diy hydroponic setup, and I have only produced four cherry tomatoes, but I am optimistic I will learn to get it right.

      I have been growing kale in those clear cylindrical plastic takeout containers and it grew well until the roots ran out of room. I moved them into a larger container an hour ago and out them outside in the one strip of full sun outside my door, but I wonder if I should have kept them under a light inside.

      I like YouTube videos by Tikki O for unpretentious advice on growing vegetables in your kitchen out of old coffee containers etc.

      My question, which the internet has not answered for me, is how to get the most bang for your buck with apartment gardening. I know I can’t live off what I grow, but what would be the most consistent, nutritious food source? My guess is kale, so I’m going hard on that, but I don’t know.

      I would also like to hear people’s vertical window gardening experiences. I have one sunny window I have been eyeing.

      • Personally, I think herbs are really good value for the amount of space they take since you can have a small amount of many varieties that may be hard to find at the store and buying herbs by the bunch can result in quite a bit of waste.

        I also think you’re right that kale is good value – I’m always shocked how much it costs for a small bunch at the store and can usually have a pretty constant supply with half a dozen plants.

        • Interesting, I’ve been too skeptical to justify the price of the pre made devices for indoor growing but I’m getting closer by the day. I think I’d agree that herbs and greens offer the most bang for your buck, although not from a nutrient perspective (kale and chard are probably the winners there, or spinach). But in terms of how expensive they are at the store, how much you have to buy at once, and how quickly it becomes inedible I think they win.

      • Oh my gosh I am going to start searching for used aerogardens. Thank you for the tip!

    • Your best bet would be buying a grow light. There are all sorts of cool indoor gardening contraptions for sale now as well, but I would recommend starting with just a grow light. Once you feel you have a good understanding of how to grow things with that, you could look into branching out into some of the other indoor growing contraptions.

      • This is in a slightly different direction, but I’ve had really good success with growing beansprouts (sprouted mung beans) which don’t need any sunlight, and pea shoots even in winter low light. I’ve tried a lot of low-space indoor salads and these two in particular feel like easy wins

    • Brx, a lot of great suggestions here. As someone else mentioned in one of the comments, grow lights are a easy way to get very healthy looking plants indoors. They used to be these big industrial looking lights, but now they make LED panels and other designs. I like the LED panels because of lower power usage and they are designed to have the right light spectrum for plants. Over the years I have been buying them so now have about a dozen.

      When I start tomatoes and other summer crops in the winter (late December / early January) I set up the panels in my garage over some tables, use heating mats under the trays and start several hundred tomato plants (I give a lot of them away to neighbors, and some for charity plant sales). By March my tomatoes are way ahead of what you can find in nurseries. Between the long hours of light and the heating mats, the trays stay nearly a constant 80F.

      Years ago, before I started using my garage, I would set up shelves and grow light in my bathroom and start tomatoes there. In a few months my bathroom would be overrun with large vegetable plants. Kind of got crowded, but I loved the smell. It looked like I was in the marijuana growing business!

      Just google “LED Grow Lights” and you will see a lot of good possibilities at a wide range of price points.

  4. Hi all! This rocks! I can’t wait until I can contribute as an advice giver rather than an advice asker.

    HOW do I stop my butter lettuce from bolting. Last year I had to decapitate it after it reached two feet and I was devastated. I live in Oregon, by the way, where we have alternately very warm (100+) and very rainy summer days.

    • Some things to try: plant very early in the spring for a late spring/early summer harvest, and then again in the late summer for a fall harvest. Try other, more heat loving plants for mid-summer eating. You could also try planting in the shade and see if it makes it through the summer that way.

    • All of Peas! ideas are great. I do much of this myself.

      Besides planting in the spring and late summer, I personally like to have lettuce all year around, so here is what I do:

      – plant lettuce in containers that you can move to locations depending on the season and the amount of sun / heat they are getting.

      – In spring and fall I put my lettuce in pots that I keep in full sun. I also have them on a drip system.

      – In the middle of the summer, I move my pots to a shady area that will help keep the lettuce from bolting. I prefer a location right outside next to my backdoor which is near the kitchen. That way I can just open the door, reach out and pick some lettuce, and I am all set for a summer salad.

      – Trimming any shoots that come up regularly is important, but it sounds like you are doing that.

      Here is a reference you might find useful:

      https://mgsantaclara.ucanr.edu/garden-help/vegetables/lettuce/growing-lettuce-year-round/

      I REALIZE NOW THAT MY PERSPECTIVE IS MORE WEST COAST ORIENTED, SO IF POSSIBLE IF YOU CAN POST YOUR GENERAL LOCATION (NOTHING SPECIFIC JUST THINGS LIKE WEST COAST, EAST COAST, MIDWEST ETC) IS GOOD ENOUGH. ADVICE CAN BE TAILORED TO YOUR LOCALE.

    • I used to plant lettuce behind or between my tomatoes so it would get shaded once the weather warmed. You could also try to intercrop them with anything tall (corn or beans, maybe?) It won’t stop it from bolting completely, but it will extend the season quite a bit especially if you plant densely.

    • Lettuce is a cool season crop, so unfortunately there’s not a ton to do to stop it from bolting in the summer. Look for heat-resistant lettuce cultivars on Johnny’s or Fedco seeds–these may be slower to bolt. Besides that, consider if there are any spots in your garden that may have a cooler microclimate than the garden at large, and situating your lettuce there

  5. Best veggies for container gardening and/or any helpful tips or hacks for growing food in small spaces?

    • I used to have a few small community garden plots and I spent a lot of time looking into both square foot gardening and vertical gardening to make good use of space. You can also plant small amounts of fast-growing crops and harvest while they’re small to have a constant yield.

      Look up “square foot gardening spacing” to see how many plants per foot you can fit and/or only use plant spacing and not the row spacing. If you plant each row offset while maintaining the required spacing between plants (or a bit less) you can plant more densely. Most plants will give a slightly lower yield if they have less space but it usually works out to a better yield per unit area to have more plants.

      You can stake zucchini and other summer squash to grow vertically and there are lots of varieties that are bred to be compact (they are still pretty big but won’t take over quite so much). To stake a summer squash, tie the stem to the stake every half foot or so and every time you harvest, trim off all the leaves below the lowest set of fruit. Once there is space, you can plant shorter plants that like shade around the base (ex lettuce, spinach, herbs). Staking reduces yield per plant but greatly reduces the footprint of each plant so you can try more varieties. It also supposedly reduces issues with mildew and mold because it increases air flow, but I haven’t noticed a difference myself.

      You can also look for tall and vining plants to increase yield per area and leave space on the ground level for other plants. Pole beans instead of bush beans, for example. There’s also some less common greens you can try that vine, such as orach and amaranth and vining nasturtiums.

      • Re: staking summer squash, I always staked compact varieties and they would end up being 3-4 feet tall. It might be a bit of a pain to find stakes long enough for larger varieties

  6. I can’t for the life of me keep Basil alive, but everyone keeps suggesting it to me as an easy herb. Thoughts?

    • I have nothing useful to add apart from OMG SAME!!
      I am a somewhat capable gardener but basil is a notable exception to that

    • I love this question because I know a lot of people who have trouble with Basil, I am one of them.

      Basil is one of the easiest herbs to root (just take a cutting and stick it in water, and it will root) but growing healthy basil outdoors especially is very tricky.

      Basil is like candy to insects and it is fairly sensitive to getting the right amount of sun, shade and water.

      Here are a few tips to try:

      – Basil often does well indoors in a small pot on a window sill that gets a fair amount of light. This avoids the bug problem.

      – If you want to grow basil outdoors, try putting it in a pot vs planting in the ground (this avoids some of the insect issues), and put it in an area that get some sun (4+ hours?). If it is not doing well where you put it, the beauty of a pot is you can move it around and find the best location.

      – Basil needs regular water, so don’t let the soil get fully dry. If it is outdoors, you may need to water daily.

      Here is a short article on Basil that you might find helpful:

      https://sonomamg.ucanr.edu/Vegetable_of_the_Month/Basil/

      HOPE THIS HELPS!!

      WOULD BE GREAT IF YOU COULD POST SOMETIME IN THE FUTURE, WHAT IDEAS WORKED OR DIDN’T WORK FOR YOU.

    • Last summer I had really success with growing basil in containers for the first time after attempting to grow it for over a decade. It was the most on top of watering I’ve ever been, which is maybe part of it. I also added a little compost every couple weeks, which also helped. Mostly it just wanted more attention than I had given past basil plants. Also I had probably 8 plants instead of the 1 I usually plant.

    • I have always had basil that is healthy for a month or so then suddenly dies. I just read recently that it actually likes some shade when the weather gets hot and I always thought it was a full sun plant, so my experiment for this year will be to put it in part shade and see if that helps.

    • I totally agree with others that basil is actually quite finicky! I’ve found that once it’s established (like a month in from transplanting) mine is fine, but any big shift in temperature or moisture before then just decimates it.

      It’s not at all the same as Italian basil as far as cooking/flavor, but I LOVE holy basil (also known as tulsi) for tea, as a pollinator plant, and just generally because it grows better and smells amazing.

      • I strongly recommend a variety called African Bush Basil.

        In mild climates it will thrive as a 3ft tall perennial with very little water once established. Thai basil is pretty resilient as well. The favorite of both is slightly different than a sweet basil, but still works great for buckets of homemade pesto and salsa verde.

    • I got an AeroGarden as a Christmas present and it’s the first time I’ve managed to keep Basil alive for an extended period. It flashes at you when it needs food or water, so I can’t over water or underwater it. I’m a black thumb, but now I have healthy indoor herbs.

      • Sal, I have had aerogardens in the past (had a couple of them) and they did grow the best basil I have ever grown….they are also really convenient because you can put them almost anywhere in the house.

        I am usually hesitant about recommending them because of the initial cost of the aerogarden and the subsequent cost of the pods.

        But getting it as a gift is ideal and the price is right!!

        I still have my aerogardens stored away and sometimes get the itch to break them out and use them again, maybe this year??

    • I strongly recommend a variety called African Bush Basil.

      In mild climates it will thrive as a 3ft tall perennial with very little water once established. Thai basil is pretty resilient as well. The favorite of both is slightly different than a sweet basil, but still works great for buckets of homemade pesto and salsa verde.

  7. Hi, first of all THANK-YOU NICOLE!! I am continuously impressed by the AS community to come up with ideas and answers to any question and I am sure gardening will be the same.

    A little into: I am Christina and I am a certified California Master Gardener and work the Master Gardener Help Desk in Alameda County (SF area).

    I love helping out on gardening questions and will provide help on some of the questions, but the best answer to any question will always be the group answer – the aggregate of many people ideas and answers. I learn daily from gardeners in the process of helping to answer questions. So hopefully, many people will chime in on any given question and educate us all.

    • “a certified California Master Gardener and work the Master Gardener Help Desk in Alameda County (SF area)” — THAT IS SO FREAKING COOL!!!!!!

      • THANKS!!! I have been an avid gardener since childhood (even took care of neighbors gardens as a kid – for $$s of course!).

        I became a master gardener in 2014 and love the work. The very best part is learning new things everyday like from the AS community here. I guess I am also in the camp of being obsessed with the AS community and with gardening!! Alot in common!!

        Not sure what state / county you live in but many counties across the country have master gardener programs. Something to consider.

    • HERE TO AGREE WITH VANESSA – these are some really cool qualifications. Glad to have you here, Christina!

    • Do you have any tips for taking cuttings from agave pups?
      I have lots of dirt but not much money and am looking for plants I can grow from cuttings.

  8. I’m moving from the flatlands of MN to 7,300ft or so in Colorado this very week
    What garden vegetables do well in altitude/ Colorado???

  9. Has anyone ever had any success with a)butternut squash or b) pumpkin in containers? I know the answer is probably no but containers are all i have so i am sending this out into the universe

    • I haven’t tried but I just started a tray of butternut squash from seed so lots of starter plants.

      I will put a few in a pot, see how it goes. May not help for this season, but maybe next!!

    • Pumpkin has been difficult to grow in the ground in a small community garden, I don’t think it would do well in a container. Good luck though!

    • I haven’t personally done so, but in full sun and a large pot that’s kept well watered, it seems possible! Just keep in mind that containers dry out more quickly than ground soil, and water accordingly.

    • I’m pretty sure squash have a tap root rather than growing a more lateral root system. I just looked up root depth and the internet says they can get about 2 feet deep, so choose a deep container, but it probably doesn’t need to be especially wide as long as the plant itself has room to sprawl.

  10. Also, how do you best heal a plant that has got cold-nipped? I was told my cucamelon was primed for outdoors but then it got chilly and it’s looking ROUGH.

    • Unless it is totally shriveled up, it should recover once things warm up! Once you see new foliage emerging and getting bigger, you can pinch off the damaged foliage. If there are any future cool temps in the forecast, be sure to cover the cucamelon with row cover or light fabric as extra protection. Most cucurbits prefer hot weather, so are especially sensitive to cold.

    • I would do exactly the same as Kinga O also. The only add might be to treat with a light fertilizer (like a dilute liquid NPK fertilizer – the kind often used for houseplants). This will help give it the nutrients without the chance of over fertilizing (chicken soup approach).

  11. Any tips on growing cucumbers? I have never been able to get more than one or two before the plants die despite being able to grow most other things no problem.

    I recently read that they like partial shade, so I’ll be trying that this year. Any other suggestions?

    I’m in the PNW, zone 8.

    • i’m not sure if you’ve trellised your cukes in the past, but i found mine were MUCH happier when they were vining up rather than growing on the ground. apologies if this is obvious! i’m also in the pnw — hoping we get some more sun soon :)

    • Regular fertilizer (like a small handful of something natural every other week, i used to work at Down to Earth, a garden store in Eugene, OR that makes its own fertilizers, and their veg garden blend is good if you can find it) suuuuuper regular watering, and def trellising like Vanessa said. Mine always get mildew eventually no matter what I do though 😐

      • What is “regular” fertilizer? Like a balanced one? I am usually pretty good about watering but not great about remembering to fertilize during the growing season.

        I have always trellised them and top-dressed with compost.

    • KJ, what usually happens to your cucumber plants? Do they yellow out and die? Do they get defoliated? It may be a pest or disease issue, or could have to do with the soil where they’re planted.

      As Vanessa mentioned, a trellis is a great idea if you aren’t already using one. A trellis also makes it a little easier to find and harvest every cucumber–if you miss one and it becomes yellow/fully mature, the vine may die.

      Do you usually plant your cucumbers in the same spot? They’re happiest planted in a spot with rich, well-draining soil, ideally amended with compost. Make sure the plants get enough water, especially early on until they get established.

      Another commenter mentioned powdery mildew, which is pretty much inevitable as you get later into the summer, but it could also happen earlier in the summer if plants are too crowded. However, it shouldn’t kill the vine; it’ll just slow it down.

      I’d be curious to hear what exactly happens when your cucumber plants fail, as that may help us figure out how to overcome this!

      • Usually the vines turn yellow and die by about midsummer. I had a community garden and always had them planted in the same spot because it was small and the trellis wasn’t portable. I added a couple inches of fresh compost every year.

        I always had issues with powdery mildew on squash but I’m not sure that was what was going on with the cucumbers because they would die off pretty early and my zucchini/pattipans always made it to the end of the season.

    • KJ: Zone 8 is very close to mine: zone 9a / 9b (east SF Bay area).

      One thing to add to all of the good suggestions above is if your plants are producing male and female flowers in sufficient numbers but you are not getting many cucumbers, then its a pollination issue.

      I have had exactly the same problem with cucumbers and summer squashes. Several years ago started to hand pollinate very regularly (almost daily). Using a small paint brush (like the kind in a child’s paint set) rub the brush around the male flower, you will see a yellow dusting of pollen on the brush, and then rub the top of the female flower to pollinate. Here is a reference that shows the difference between male / female flowers if your not sure:

      https://okrainmygarden.com/5-reasons-cucumber-or-squash-plants-may-lack-female-flowers/

      If you are not getting enough female flowers (also a common problem) see the link for ideas on how to fix this.

      Any stress on squash or cucumbers (lack of water, excessive heat, not enough fertilizer) will cause the female flowers to shut down and you will get poor yields. Female flowers take more of the plants energy to produce, so they are the first thing to shut down when plants are stressed.

      Hope this helps!!

    • KJ, I am pretty sure I figured out what is going on with your cucumbers.

      Yesterday, late afternoon, I was answering a Master Gardener Help Desk Question that read almost exactly like yours (literally almost word for word). So I did some research to try to answer it and found that cucumbers, like peppers and tomatoes, are susceptible to verticillium wilt (VW). VW is a fungus that lives in the soil and infected plants die (essentially behave like they are not getting any water because VW blocks the uptake of water). It doesn’t matter how much water or fertilizer they get, the plant won’t take it up.

      Here is a link to information about VW in cucumbers:

      http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/GARDEN/VEGES/DISEASES/cuverticwilt.html

      VW also affects peppers, eggplants, potatoes, tomatoes besides cucumbers. This is the main reason you probably have heard about rotating tomato plants to different locatons every year.

      There is no way of eliminating VW from the soil but here is how to deal with it:

      Grow your cucumbers in a different location in the garden where you have not grown them before (or where peppers, potatoes and tomatoes have been).

      If you lack space, look for varieties of cucumbers that say verticillium wilt resistant on the label. These can be safely grown where VW exists.

      The other option is to grow the cucs in containers with fresh potting soil (nearly all potting soils from nurseries sold in bags have been sterilized so do not contain VW).

      HOPE THIS HELPS!!

      • Thanks! Weird that they were right next to my tomatoes but the tomatoes were fine.

        I’m in a new place so different garden than where this was happening. Hopefully the problem will fix itself. The cukes failed in a different way last year, which I am pretty sure was due to clayey soil so we’re working on amending it

        • Your welcome! I suspect that the tomatoes may be one of the VW resistant varieties. It is pretty common now to see on tomato plants the notation “VFN resistant”. The V and F stand for verticillium and fusarium wilts which are extremely common problems now.

          I can sympathize with the clay issue….the base soil where I live is clay so I spend a lot of time adding amendments to the soil to try to get more organic material in to dilute the clay.

          Have a great rest of the weekend…..

  12. JUST HERE TO SAY I AM OBSESSED WITH THIS IDEA AND OBSESSED WITH THE AS COMMUNITY AND OBSESSED WITH GARDENING OKAY CARRY ON <3 <3 <3

    • Yay!!!! I’m making myself late for work reading every comment even though it’s late fall and I do t grow food and I won’t be doing much gardening until spring, lol. I just love it when other queers talk about, we’ll, pretty much anything!

  13. Any favorite herb recommendations for partial shade? I am building a little container herb garden on the steps to the entrance to my apartment, but it’s a side-entrance between two buildings so it only gets a few hours of direct sun per day. I have basil (and probably plan to get more varieties), mint, and chives so far…

    Also wierdly last year I found that peppers seem to do OK in this spot despite being “full sun” plants, so also open to not-super-spicy pepper rec’s (I liked the jalapenos last year, struggled to use my harvest of habaneros)

    • Dill because it’s a little delicate, might do okay there. Anything in the mint family will grow aggressively no matter where you put it, so if you like things like mint or lemon balm, you could try those.

  14. Yes good I love this.

    Okay: tips for slug repelling strategies? I was okay with them just eating the lower leaves of my greens but now they’re chewing on seedlings before they even get started. 😭

    Also, I have this big blank space of lawn that I want to turn into garden (paths, seats, plants, trees??) and I’m overwhelmed by this. I’m thinking about hiring a professional garden designer to help me get started but that is also kind of intimidating. Has anyone got tips for starting from basically zero on a garden?

    • Snails / Slugs: a safe, very effective approach is iron based snail formulas (sluggo for ex). Iron i a plant nutrient but also kills snails and slugs!! It is an approved organic treatment.

      Garden design: I think you will love this! One of the best, underused resources, is the better homes and gardens, garden plans:

      https://www.bhg.com/gardening/plans/

      These are full plans for all types of situations (front yard, back yard, small spaces, drought tolerant, etc) and they come with the plans and the full plant list. Best of all THEY ARE FREE!! At the very least, they will give you ideas, at the most – you can landscape yourself and save money!!

      A lot of people don’t know about these including many master gardeners I have worked with.

      • I agree, would be fun to see the progress!

        Blank spaces are intimidating but are open to a lot of interesting possibilities…

    • This is a good problem to have, though I can see why it would be overwhelming.

      Can you break it down into a few areas and do a small chunk every year? I’d probably start with main path and a seating area and then branch out as I had the time/energy/money for it.

      A lawn alternative in some spots might give a more gardeny feel without being a lot of planning or maintenance and you could dig it up and replace it with something else later. This company that’s local to me sells some seed blends, but suppliers in your area may have something similar that would work well in your climate https://www.westcoastseeds.com/search?q=lawn+alternative

      My aspirational projects that I will probably never have enough space or a permanent enough space for are a food forest and hugelkultur beds. https://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/many-benefits-hugelkultur

    • A big open space sounds equally intimidating as exciting.
      I don’t think I have a lot to add to the tips already given, I just wanted to say that I think if you have the money hiring a garden designer/gardener is a great idea.
      They will be able to help you put your vision in to reality a lot quicker than doing it on your own and I am always a fan of taking the advice of professionals.

    • Thank you all for the suggestions! I think breaking it down into sections is probably a good way to go, and I also like the idea that the garden will develop over the course of years–it feels like an exercise in patience and developing a relationship with the garden instead of just expecting a garden to be a thing you can buy and then have.

      Some sections of the lawn get super marshy when it rains, and I think it would be really cool to turn that into a rain garden (and direct the wet away from the house lol). This is where I think I might need a professional to help but I’d be interested in doing some reading on rain gardens if anyone has links to info.

      This is indeed a really good problem to have! I’m excited as well as overwhelmed. Gonna get to achieve my life goal of having a front yard that convinces local eight year old girls that I am a witch.

      • I just finished a Stormwater Management course! I haven’t actually made one before but I did a bunch of research for a presentation about engineering them.

        I just did some digging around for something on the DIY side of things. This guide looks pretty comprehensive and includes a bunch of green stormwater management strategies for homeowners. However, there are likely local resources that will include information on plants that will do well in your area. The plants need to tolerate moisture but not require it as the rain garden will actually be dry most of the time.
        https://www4.des.state.nh.us/SoakNH/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/NH-Homeowner-Guide-2016.pdf#page=37

        Most rain gardens (aka bioretention) designed by engineers here have a drainrock reservoir in them because we get a lot of rain. Using terms from the guide I linked above it is basically like having a drywell underneath the soil layer as they describe in the rain garden section. This increases the depth available for water retention and may be suitable if you get a lot of precipitation.

        If you have a marshy area, it is likely either an area with a low infiltration rate or that collects water from a larger area than the soil can absorb quickly. Your best bet is probably to intercept water before it gets to the marshy area, such as by capturing runoff from your roof or driveway before it can get to the low point or putting the rain garden slightly upslope to capture lawn runoff.

        Key points to check to make sure a rain garden works in the chosen location:
        -check your soil infiltration to make sure it is suitable for a rain garden
        -make sure you follow setback guidance from your house foundation and any buried utilities that may run through your yard

        Let me know if you have any questions.

      • I love the idea of a rain garden! Lucky also to have KJ as a resource here.

        I know very little about them, so hoping I can learn from your and KJ’s experience. I did pull up a University of California plant blog that has rain garden plant suggestions:

        https://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/postdetail.cfm?postnum=28777

        I have access to a lot more University of California resources (the gardening help desk I work at and the garsden blog I write for are all part of the UC system).

        Happy to help on any research to complement resources that KJ can bring.

        Not sure the area you live in, but I can tailor information to your locale.

        I know some about bioretention ponds from a local elemntary school garden and outdoor learning center that I run (I keep busy). It has a large bio retention area for teaching about water recycling and from the teaching materials “nature’s filter – how rocks and mud make clean water”. The water is recycled and used for the school.

        The bioretention area is really cool but on a scale far beyond homes would use. I can probably post a link to a google satelite picture of the area. It’s extremely unique for an elemntary school.

        • Here is the local elemntary school outdoor learning center I mentioned that I run:

          https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7156408,-121.9355244,84m/data=!3m1!1e3

          The white buildings to the left are the school buildings. The area with all the raised beds is the garden area with a large barn in the middle full of kid friendly gardening tools (very hands on). There is outdoor classroom seating behind the barn.

          The bio-retention pond is below the garden area. You can see the drainage all around it.

          The area I live in is very progressive and KJ you might be interested in this other large bio-retention project in my area. The area shown in the plans here is literally walking distance from my house:

          https://www.deeproot.com/blog/blog-entries/onsite-bioretention-and-stormwater-management-using-deeproot-silva-cells-in-dublin-california-case-study/

          Don’t really know a lot about the engineering here, but you might be familiar with the “silva cells?”

          • Thanks for the links.

            I’m familiar with Silva Cells – municipalities here are starting to use them fairly frequently. They are most commonly used here to give street trees enough soil volume that they can thrive without the roots damaging sidewalks and bike paths along with the stormwater management benefits. Typically runoff from the street is diverted to the Silva Cells to water the trees and infiltrate under the sidewalk.

          • I figured you probably knew about them. Your explanation of their use fascinates me because it solves a number of big problems. I have seen alot sidewalk damage from trees over the years so its great to know that solutions like this exist. I suspect that these systems are being used all over our city because about 2-3 years ago they were tearing up alot of the main streets to add infrastructure. I know they added recycled water pipes from the color (pink pipes).

        • I’m in Seattle! Which tbh is less rainy than we all claim it is; it rains all the time in the fall/winter/spring and then it’s dry all summer.

          We have a program called Rainwise that will help pay to construct rain gardens, but it only covers certain patches of the city and I’m not in one of them. I think they have some good resources though that I need to look at more closely.

          • This site is local to you. It has a video and a how-to guide that looks better than the one I linked to before. It includes a sizing table based on annual rainfall for sizing and a few sample planting plans and suggested native species. There’s also a list of local contractors trained by the program if you decide not to build it yourself.

            https://www.12000raingardens.org/build-a-rain-garden/

    • My family’s always killed / distracted slugs with beer. You pour a cheap beer into a low-to-the-ground container, make sure they have a way to crawl in, and place these containers near your plants. The slugs go for the yeast. If you don’t have beer, you can make a slug-drowning mixture with yeast, water and sugar because it’s the yeast that attracts them. I’ve also heard mulching around the bottom of the plants can help reduce slug activity. Good luck!

  15. This has been so gooooood! I was all tired from repotting my beans/trying to get sticks to stay up but now I want to get back out there! (It’s 10pm so I won’t).
    They’re on the sunny balcony so they should be ok for sun but I’d love to make use of our other balcony – can anyone recommend anything for a shady, North facing balcony that gets quite a bit of wind? It doesn’t have to be edible.

    Also FUNGUS GNATS WHYYYYYYY??

    • Hatch, I will get back to you later today. I wanted to check some of my MG resources.

      Should be able to give you some good ideas.

    • Hatch:

      Here are some links with high shade loving plants for small spaces:

      https://www.bhg.com/gardening/plans/shade/small-space-shade-garden-plan/

      https://www.bhg.com/gardening/plans/shade/

      https://marinmg.ucanr.edu/PLANTS/FERNS_-_SHADE_PLANTS/

      These links will have about every shade loving plant that is a potential option for you.

      A couple of things to think about:
      – Placement: boxes over the railing, pots on the balcony, hanging pots from above or some combination.
      – Size: depending on the size of the balcony, you will need to consider the full width and height of the plant.
      – Aesthetic: looking for lots of color or a more tropical lush green look, or maybe high fragrance is important? Or combinations of these?
      – Maintenance – low or medium maintenance? Some plants will require a lot more attention than others (dead heading etc).
      – Watering – some plants may require watering everyday

      Some of my personal favorite shade loving plants are fuchsias (stunning hanging over balconies), hanging begonias, lamium (sometimes referred to as “dead nettles” but the name is a misnomer – nothing dead or nettle like).

      Anyway, a lot here to get you started.

      Not sure if you wanted info on fungus gnats but if they are an issue, this is a great resource:

      http://ipm.ucanr.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7448.html#:~:text=Fungus%20gnats%20are%20small%20flies,potted%20plants%20and%20interior%20plantscapes.

      • Thank you so much Christina! I will spend some time browsing your shady suggestions and see what could work here. It would be great to have stuff that smells nice :)

        I think what I’m doing for the fungus gnats is working but I’ll try anything so thanks for that too :)

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