Name: April
Location: Long Beach, CA
Type of space: Herb and vegetable garden
Tell us about your outdoor project and how you enjoy it: I love being able to go outside and watch my vegetables and herbs grow. It's also the perfect spot to read a good book, enjoy a drink and breathe in the aroma of lavender, rosemary and thyme. More

Name: Paula
Location: Matteson, IL
Type of space: Outdoor patio
Tell us about your outdoor project and how you enjoy it: For Father's Day this year, my mother and I decided to go all out for my pizza-loving father. For many years we used our back patio as a dumping ground for our seasonal junk. This summer (actually only an astonishing 11 days) we turned it into a pizza coliseum. The structure consists of a pergola with monogrammed edging, a one of a kind countertop, and a wood-burning pizza oven. We also made detailed mosaic pizzas and a stone seating area to honor the chef. More

Name: Melissa
Location: Greenbelt, MD
Type of space: Balcony
Tell us about your outdoor project and how you enjoy it: I love to garden and produce my own food but I live in a condo. The space is small (11x6ft) and only receives direct sunlight until noon... I do love a challenge. More

Name: Lauren
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Type of space: Backyard garden
Tell us about your outdoor project and how you enjoy it: My family hosted a backyard BBQ to celebrate my recent graduation. Since my Dad is Arabic, our menu was mostly Middle Eastern, including a huge batch of lemony homemade hummous, tabbouleh, lentil salad, olives, feta, falafel, kifta kabob (spiced meat), and turkey sausages. Our family is used to this kind of food but we knew it would be a treat for my friends. More

Name: Amelia
Location: Washington, D.C.
Type of space: Community garden plot
Tell us about your outdoor project and how you enjoy it: I am a foodie and a longtime container gardener, so I was thrilled to be assigned a fourteen by fourteen foot plot at a community garden here in Washington, DC. Over the course of the last six months, I have filled the beds with many of my favorite vegetables, including tomatoes, peppers, salad greens, onions, beets, chard, potatoes, peas, carrots, squash, eggplants, and lots of herbs. Having this space has also allowed me to try out some eclectic and alluring seed catalog items, like my Mexican Sour Gherkins and Chocolate Cherry tomatoes. More

Name: Erin
Location: Ames, IA
Type of space: Balcony
Tell us about your outdoor project and how you enjoy it: I wish I could live out here constantly! Most of the balcony taken up by the plants, but we squeezed in a couple chairs and the grill, which gets fired up almost every night during the summer. The planters are overflowing with vegetables, edible flowers and herbs. I use something from out here with almost every meal I cook. I love tending the plants, trying new arrangements, and watching them grow. It takes a bit of time to keep it all maintained – on average, a couple hours per day – but it’s very meditative and therapeutic. Sometimes I just sit and stare; even from inside the apartment the view is stunning. More

Name: Maria
Location: Edmonton, AB
Type of space: Garden
Tell us about your outdoor project and how you enjoy it: This is my second year trying out this thing called gardening. I have switched from having one huge bed to having 3 boxed beds and what I like to refer to as the Free Range potato patch. It is a strictly vegetable/edible garden that I have planted using Companion Planting strategies.

I love going out in the morning over the weekend and just picking weeds, smelling the tomato plants, and making sure my babies are healthy and strong. I can't wait for our first harvest! We have 46 potato plants growing so I see a lot of potato dishes in our future. Yum! More

Name: Anna
Location: Cambridge, MA
Type of space: Barn
Tell us about your outdoor project and how you enjoy it: A few years ago our parents bought a falling-down barn in West Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard. We spent the next few years fixing it up, scrubbing, painting, gardening... and finally relaxing! Everyone's favorite place to be is outside on the wrap-around porch. Our two long, red picnic tables have hosted countless summer meals. Our favorite food is fresh, simple, health, and delicious! More

Name: Casi
Location: Philadelphia, PA
Type of space: Back deck
Tell us about your outdoor project and how you enjoy it: I grew up surrounded by gardeners and when we moved to the big city, I wanted to keep the tradition going. Because it is a second floor deck, I have to keep everything in containers. I wanted to be able to harvest vegetables in addition to having flowers. I'm growing lots of tomatoes, zucchini, sweet and hot peppers, peas, lettuce, cilantro, dill, mint, parsley, basil, purple sage, rosemary, and thyme. I use the herbs in my cooking and can't wait for tomato season! I made sure the cats have their own edible garden and planted cat grass and cat nip in a window box on the floor for them. More

Name: Kate
Location: Washington, D.C.
Type of space: Urban garden
Tell us about your outdoor project and how you enjoy it: My name is Kate and I’ve lived in and around the District of Columbia my entire life. I’ve recently landed in a beautiful historical rowhouse in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood of D.C. with my media naranja.

For our second anniversary (the dating kind, not the married thing), I was given an incredible gift – a 6?x3? cedar garden bed frame and the offer of any and all plants and supplies I could want for. While a wonderful and thoughtful present (I’d been dreaming out loud about a city house with a garden for quite a while), it also posed a formidable challenge: to figure out the wild and wacky world of vegetable gardening in an urban environment. More