r/UrbanGardening

Hello everyone, my neighbor recently died and while the building is figuring out what to do with her unit (I'm hoping to be able to move in) I am taking care of her plants. I just got access and one of the trees is already dead and this one does not look too good.

Can I still save it? These trees have been here for decades and it would be ashame for them to die.

This is on the UWS of NYC.

Thanks!

We have lived in this town home that we rent for 10 years. This is the culmination of our growing efforts.

Hi everyone!

I need some help with my petite marigolds in the front plot of my house. They look pretty patchy, and I’m getting a lot more leaves than flowers. The overall planting just doesn’t look very full or balanced.

What can I do at this point in the season to improve the appearance of the plot? Should I prune some of the foliage, add more plants, move/replant anything, or just wait for more flowers?

Any advice on how to make this area look fuller and more attractive would be greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

I live in Chicago (6b) and I have large, mostly bare medians in front of my condo building 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). Our HOA gave me the green light to work on it, but they can’t help with budget. 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!

hi all and thank you in advance! i'm growing cucumbers on my balcony and left them under my roommate's care for two and a half weeks. i came back and while they are still alive and producing cucumbers, they look ... sad for lack of a better term. there's been some harsh heat in nyc the past few weeks, however i asked that my roommate water them extra on the super hot days.
any insight as to what is making them lose leaves would be much appreciated! (and advice on how to bring them back to see better days)

thank youuuu!

From the rooftop containers

This is the first year we’ve been able to plant here and despite a few setbacks its coming together! 25 different flowers, a mix of natives and not. Hopefully next year they’ll reseed and spread and it’ll look more full.

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!)

I have a new fig tree I want to grow to cover a wall. The wall is south facing and gets plenty of sun. Its about 3.4 m wide and about 1.4 tall st the ledge and 2.5m on the right hand side.

My tree has a Y shape and each srm of the Y has three branched growing. I was thinking of training the tree to cover the wall in either direction and let the central branch of either side grow and then split those into further Y and keep it pruned at that size.

Is this possible? Can I keep the tree to only having those 5 main branche per side? I know that each cordon will have smaller branches which i plan to prune in Winter