r/UrbanGardening

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!

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'm getting the sense I should be trimming them to shape them better?

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.

Love unconventional pots like trash cans, mop buckets, Styrofoam containers, soy sauce buckets.

Hey all! I recently moved into this NYC apartment with a wrap-around in the 7B zone - really fortunate to have a good amount of space to place a wide variety of both ornamentals and edibles and I could really use help to create something that looks visually appealing and can also be functional. Understanding what type of plants to get as well what planters and pots would look nice while working with a budget would be something I def need some help with! I've done quite a bit of "designing" with various garden and landscaping AIs and although those are helpful they just don't seem to do it especially when this would not be a non-trivial investment.

The idea I had in mind was to clean the space up of clutter and have planters and pots lined up along the outer wall of the balcony as well as some under the overhang. I think there's a lot of potential to make this a great space to hang out and look nice while also having a garden for some fresh vegetables.

The span under the overhang is north facing while the other span with the outdoor seating setup is west facing. The width of both spans are ~7ft while the length of both spans are ~40ft. The sun hits the area under the overhang in the morning for ~1-2 hours depending on the season and then rises up to then eventually shine over the area facing midtown for several hours.

Would love any ideas and even open to work with someone who would be willing to help come up with a design for a reasonable price.

Thanks again all!

Got my first bloom today