I don't normally post in this forum, but saw the question.

I have a fenced back yard in Houston. Here are the issues I've come across.
-Not a lot of good places for trees because of the utility lines. I had the utility one call place come out. The utility lines were too close to the fence for me to plant trees there. I had to plant further in and take up more of my yard.
-I like climbing flowers like roses, morning glories, etc. I don't have a single fence that gets sunlight and is unshared with a neighbor. If I want these flowers, my neighbor needs to want them also.
-I also have a shade problem on the sides of my house. I have more room than most because of the shape of my lot. I have houses on the east and west side. Bummer because it would be a great place for some fruit trees,

My main problem is space!! I get nice southern exposure but, living in a ground floor apartment with a not-quite patio-hole, I have limited space. My upstairs neighbor is a bird nut who has lots of bird feeders spread around the balcony. Which means I have literally no space to put planters without my sprouts, starts or seedlings competing with birdseed, birds, pests, and viciously digging squirrels. This spring I plan on using landscaping fabric over my planters to protect my hard work. Hopefully that takes care of the cycle of bird/squirrels/bugs. Earwigs decimated my squash in their hunt for rotting vegetation/birdseed.

The other issue is gnats. The only plant I've been able to keep in my home without it becoming infested with them is an aloe that I have watered twice in eight months. That makes it really hard to care for seeds or hold on to seedlings before hardening them off. People say it's due to overwatering.... but it seems like ANY water brings them back. So I usually watered and then shook a layer of DE over the soil. That greatly reduced the problem but no matter what I did/do, the gnats keep coming back!

Garbage and dog poo !
Also, Bad soil from decades of neglect and abuse. Lots of unpleasant surprises when digging, and the dirt is compacted and full of cement and asphalt bits from road and sidewalk work. This is in the front of my house.

In the back, it's as far as I have excavated, a former farmhouse veg garden, covered by gravel, covered by a plastic mesh backed sod lawn, then covered with four inches of wood chips. My house is 100 years old this year! It's archaeology whenever I plant a shrub.

Pea

SOIL!
I have to grow in containers, being in an apartment. But you can't buy decent potting soil--its all ridiculously heavy, and even finding the supplies for Al's 5:1:1 has proven incredibly difficult --unless I had a yard to dump giant tonne-size bags of the bark on! (I tried to make do with bark that was too big - no way of breaking down an appreciable amount of it, and well, that did not go well)

Most of your one-season plants will be alkaline (not acid-loving) so most of the small packages of planting soil should suit your need.

Buy a growing plant, rather than a dormant seed - begin with success. Make sure you include your young kids in every step of the process of gardening.

If growing a year-round plant in a container, avoid the beautiful tapered pot, as the most important part (to the plant) is its root, and it wants as much spread as the top. Also, the root is meant to be underground, where the winter temperature is usually around 50 degrees F. A double-walled container will reduce the impact of the temperatures, both up and down.

Also with year-round plants, a container with a reservoir at the bottom and a fill-tube in the corner, will keep nutrients below the root and soil, will keep the root growth deep, rather than near the surface, where you normally place water in a container, where it readily evaporates.

No terrace or balcony is too small to introduce nature to it, and you will need to make a special effort to insure that your kids do not become like a fourth-grader in San Diego: "I like to play indoors better 'cause that's where all the electrical outlets are." Avoid nature-deficit disorder.

cascio.offsite@gmail.com

1. Drive-by shootings sending stray bullets through my Begonias
2. Sidewalk narcotics traffic dropping plastic bags on my Marigolds
3. Break-ins burglarizing my Ferns
4. Neighboring arson fires drifting embers onto my Petunias
5. Spray-painting of graffiti on my fence pickets
6. Rioting mobs increasing foot traffic on my Lavender
7. Passed-out homeless winos increasing alkalinity of my Gardenia beds
8. Streetwalkers' stiletto heels damaging my Daisies

Other than that, I can't really complain.

LOL. I came here specifically to complain about the neighbors. They, I'm sure, are lovely people but they for sure aren't plant people. And don't seem to quite understand why we, their neighbors about 9 feet away, don't want their gutter cleaners, tree people, and house painters walking through our garden in order to work on their house. If their side yard wasn't so overgrown with Rose of Sharon run rampant, Sumac seedlings, Creeping Virginia, and a ton of other weeds their contractors would have an easier time accessing their property. Maybe hire a landscaping company while you're at it. Also, houses are too close together in the city.