Secretary of the Interior

Today's nytimes.com posted a story and slideshow about "Tiny Concrete Jungles," or small-space urban gardens. Though St. Louis doesn't have the same challenges as New York City—in certain areas of the city, the problem is trying to fill almost too much space—there are areas where people have only tiny amounts of space to work with. That includes renters to residents of the far exurbs, where house footprints are so large, they take up most of the lot. And with this run of 100-plus-degree days we've had, I'm sure some people are thinking about shrinking the amount of yardwork they have to do, and are pondering a tiny garden even if they have room for much more.

• Here are resources for those who want to garden on the micro-scale:
• The Tiny Gardens Discussion Forum at Dave's Garden
• The Tiny Garden Blog
• Apartment Therapy on making a garden in whatever space you have
• Growing food in urban microgardens
• E-How's instructions on how to grow your own tiny garden
• Small-space garden ideas from WebEcoist

 For those who already have a tiny garden, what tricks do you use to maximize the space, or make it easier to work with? What kinds of plants work best? What are the challenges in working in cramped quarters, especially related to pests and diseases? How does one succesfully hardscape on a small scale? And finally, what do you consider small—what scale are you working with?