Several of my outdoor containers have a layer of moss. The top layer of soil is basically a solid sheet that is quite dry while the lower soil is still moist. Is this moss beneficial by keeping in soil moisture, or will it compete with my plants for nutrients?

While we have super rainy days I wanted to share my shady corner of my little garden this spring 🌸

Hi all, I'm heading into my second year growing things on my apartment building's rooftop deck. I had a great time learning my way around four 10-gallon grow bags with Mountain Princess tomatoes, and two smaller containers with Mulato Isleno peppers. As the season ended, I left them upstairs and outside over winter. I had no space in storage, and couldn't bring myself to just throw away the soil.

Now that the new growing season is here, I have a few questions about the old soil:

1. Do urban gardeners need to worry about city pollution contaminating the soil that has been exposed all year? I live in the downtown of a major city, northeast US. Also I think my neighbor extinguished his cigarettes in some of my soil.....
2. If you favor reusing, do you dig out the dead roots and stem?
3. How do you tell if there is mold or other problems with the soil?

I want to make sure my soil is safe enough to grow something my 2 year old kid can eat.

Thanks!

I have a small garden and try to make it more appealing to birds, but saw a mouse today (probably coming from the street behind the fence) eating from the feeder. Any recommendation on how to make this stop and get rid of the mices?

https://preview.redd.it/d3euud6i6hzc1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=a14648330f6bc0c395d64ef6caaa5de30febfb05

Hi folks, I've got this strip of shallow dirt between my home and the sidewalk. I'm letting some wildflowers grow here for the time being, but there are big empty patches (not super visible here because of the angle). This side of the house is among the least sunny. What might be nice to plant here? (I've done plenty of vegetable gardening but no flower/landscape gardening, really)

Hi! I’m in NYC and just recently purchased planters for my front stoop, which is on the south side of the street.

The planters have these dimensions: 64” long x 21” tall x 15” deep (2 of these) 44” long x 21” tall x 15” deep (1 of these)

What is the best type of soil (or combination of compost and soil) for these planters? How can I figure out how many bags of soil are needed?

Hello all! I am pretty unexperienced with urban agriculture but I'm slowly learning and just got presented with an opportunity to help a friend start a garden in this space! They run a community restaurant downstairs and the idea would be for the garden to serve the restaurant as much as possible and to compost the waste from the restaurant for the garden. Besides basic introductory permaculture texts I'm a bit lost of where to start with planning this. Can anyone offer any advice or point me in the direction of any resources that could help? Appreciate it :)

EDIT: thank you everyone for your helpful comments!! much appreciated.

hi everyone! not sure where to post this besides r/gardening, so putting it here too.

i'm new to this sub and pretty new to gardening in general. looking for a bit of advice. the problems are of my own making and i'm not sure how to solve 'em.

OVERLY DETAILED BACKGROUND: i have two small balconies in my apartment, one in the front, one in the back. last summer i decided to try and do some container gardening. i'm a student in a big city and materials are quite expensive, so i ended up investing quite a lot into potting soil + raw materials to mix my own (the latter was somewhat successful but honestly not very economical in the end). because i was super anxious about balcony weight and also, again, trying to be as thrifty as possible, i used those "reusable cloth" bags you get from the grocery store (i'm in an area where single-use plastic bags are now banned) in place of fancy grow bags. after planting my starters i used a wood mulch to cover the soil. i used some rocks and a bit of cardboard at the the base of some bags to bulk them up.

ANYWAY i was a total newbie and made a ton of mistakes for every one success. SPECIFICALLY, i think i fumbled the landing. the first frost comes early where i am and i got overwhelmed, busy, etc, and as such didn't really pack anything up properly. all my grow bags are where they were in the fall. i left the plants (mostly annuals) in the bags, and some have rotted, while others dried out completely. this isn't bad necessarily; i left them out deliberately because i know insects can use the husks to overwinter...but i'm at a loss.

now that the insane academic year is over i feel capable of putting energy into the garden, but i feel so lost every time i look out the windows and see everything in disarray, and dread having to buy new soil. it was labour-intensive to acquire last year (i don't have a car and can't drive, so had to strap it to my bike. over many trips. and pray.) and cost a pretty penny, which isn't in the cards for me right now. the last frost was a few weeks ago and i haven't started anything. i have a few native perennials that seem to be sprouting again and that's exciting. i have some seeds from last year and from my school's seed library that i want to start ASAP too. yet i've heard conflicting reports on what to do. my usual gardening mentor packs up her container garden soil for the winter, which i obviously haven't. others told me that the soil will have been pretty much useless as it's been depleted. i know quite a bit about soil from an academic perspective (i've taken a class or two) but i just can't seem to apply any of it! the soil i bought was specifically for container gardening. the soil i mixed myself was pretty much a hack job but i used a lot of coconut coir to try and control moisture. it seemed to work fine.

now what? i'm not in a position to buy more soil. i'm really passionate about composting but the city collects ours and i don't have a home set up. i'm also not really in the position to start vermicomposting in my apartment. i have a liquid fertilizer (this one: "HydraGreen Plant Food." idk how to put links in reddit posts). i haven't used it on anything outside and i'm not sure if it would suffice to help make my soil healthy again. ideally i would have a real plot outside and could use the knowledge i do have (i love gardening youtube) to really love the soil long-term, with compost, vermicomposting, crop switching, etc.

right now i only have the consequences of my inaction. i should probably take out the old annuals, i know, but do i plant a cover crop? does that make sense considering my silly grow bags and all the mulch still there? i have three big perennials: lavender, yarrow, and butterfly weed. i also have a few much shallower planters i used for beans and radishes. i also have a lot of tiny pots of basil as well as four large coffee cans i punched drainage holes in and used for basil. i have the (rotted/dried) remains of two cabbages, three kales, one caulifower, one broccoli, and two bell pepper plants, each in separate bags. (i know this was a really dumb selection for container gardening....forgive me, lol). nothing really seems mouldy except one head of cabbage i was really stupid to leave and then never harvested. the bags themselves do not make direct contact with the wood of the balcony and the bags are intact (i cut drainage holes). i also have one big terracotta pot i planted sunflowers in with lettuce as cover. i know the bean soil is probably fine because it's nitrogen-fixing. the radish soil i also probably okay (?) as slugs got to it so there was very little actual growth. but what of the basil? it's dried out completely. and should i try and repot the perennials? i made a specific mix for the lavender, and the butterfly weed and yarrow seem to have some sprouts, so i've hesitated. i know the kale and cabbage are probably biannual... should i just leave them as-is?

ALSO, CRITICALLY: i tried to also grow cucumbers and tomatoes (definitely not going to repeat as i learned i do not get enough sun for them) but killed them accidentally as i think i sprayed too much of a homemade saline solution i was using to treat some mildew. is the cucumber and tomato soil ruined because of that? i tried to wash the leaves as best i could as soon as i saw signs of drying/wilt but i'm afraid i may have washed the salt into the soil. would test the pH but i'm not even sure if the salinity would really alter the pH because i don't think the concentration was THAT high... do i risk just planting again and seeing what happens? but also, the soil's already pretty depleted, right? should i just toss it all? :(

wow, this feels like a novel. any and all advice and ideas are welcomed. i can also go into even more detail if needed, haha. thank you so much in advance! :)

TL;DR: i left my container balcony gardens untouched after harvest. what do i do with the soil? i want to start it up again for the spring and summer but not sure how to prep it. i'm not really in the position to buy fresh container potting soil. i've struggled in the past to find accessible compost as well. also, some containers might have non-negligible salt content.

main questions:

-some containers have a possible salt content...can i save the soil? any way to test?

-do i use liquid fertilizer to replenish my perennials? (does it depend on the perennial?)

-do i leave the rotted cabbage and kale and hope they flower?

-what do i do with the rest of the containers with annuals and soil?

THANK YOU!

No, it's not only for antioxidants but a stress reliever while picking. Any other ways to make the fruits more bigger?

Newbie here! I'm trying my hand at container gardening for the second time. Two years ago I just did pots on our balcony and didn't have much space. This year I'm doing a seven foot raised garden bed in the yard. I've started cabbage and lettuce from seed inside and will be bringing them out soon. Are there any plants (or essential oils I can spray) that you know of that would repell raccoons and cats? I see cats all the time, but heard we have raccoons too. I'm not worried about them being in the yard. I just don't want them eating my veggies!

Hi! I am trying to grow radishes. They are starting to grow well. But I only planted them with about 3 inches of soil(my mistake, I am new at this!). What should I do? Hope they keep growing? Try and transfer them into more dirt? Thanks!

9a rural heirloom veg gardener, who just recently moved to an urban 6B region. My landlord is a family member, and I’m helping fix up the backyards which involves trimming the horribly overgrown hedge.

I lived on large properties before moving here where I could just have a massive compost pile in the corner of the lot. In this case, though I am working with a 15 x 30’ space . (5m x 6m) I have previously made a garden bed from ornamental bamboo I was battling. I’m considering something similar now. I was just wondering if anyone had any better ideas.

Hi, if more info is needed I’d be happy to share, but I figured I should try and keep this short. I have a lot of dirt from my patio garden that I need to get rid of. It’s not enough to fill a truck or anything but it’s defiantly too much to scatter at a park or something (if that would even be a proper way to dispose of used dirt). I’d say about 1-2 barrels worth. Ideally if it would be helpful to someone I’d like to donate it, but I wouldn’t really know where to start looking for something like that. Does anyone here have any ideas or tips on how to either donate or get rid of used garden dirt? I am currently based nearish Boise, Idaho if that helps.

Im trying (for the second time) to grow a virginia creeper on my balcony, last year it died... I fear that my pot might be too small. The spot does get a lot of sun (facing southwest). Any help is appreciated