My biggest garden challenge is too [ __what ?__ ]

Too much sun!

New house, new neighborhood, ALL of the beautiful producing citrus trees that were on the land when property purchased by developer were removed and now everyone starting over, so no shade anywhere!

But we're working on it......

Wish I coulda picked two - too many weeds and too little time.

Weeded about 40 square feet today! Yay me!

Too much sand!
Soil is very sandy in my part of LI, great drainage, water flows right through it and it's dry as the Sahara the next day! Good for Clematis and any type of bulb. Drought resistant doesn't work well because of the humidity in the summer. Oh well, when life gives you lemons... I cant complain, at least I have a big back and front yard to keep me busy doing something I love to do. What's life without challenges.

I voted the last choice. Too few garden hoses. Running myself ragged trying to water all my beds that are spread out over three acres. I'm even watering the beds next to the fishing pond by bucket brigading them with pond water.

No room here and starting to run out of money. :) Have you ever totaled what you pay for plants and plant care for the year? Ewwww... scary.

But i have to admit... worth every penny.

Stones, boulders, clay, that is my soil, just awful,

With over 120 days a year of 100+ degrees it's just to darn HOT! And with single digit humidity it just sucks the juice out of everything. Great for dehydrating fruits and veggies outdoors though.

Too many gophers and too many neighbors growing awful stuff I don't want creeping into my garden.

Too Little Space .... I NEED MORE GARDENING ROOM. I do have secret dirt though that I put polymer water crystals and plants on. I have pure sand that the water shoots thru at 55mph. The water just waves at the plants. I can however dig my own 15" deep hole in about 15 minutes.
I just need another half acre.
Sidney

Living on an ancient sand dune. We have a newer compost pile (s) and are working towards improving the soil structure day by day.

My vote went for weeds. There's so many, I'm considering just living with them. After the weeds, then there's a lot of rocks in the soil, makes it hard to dig. After THAT, then there's just not enough property. I want to have an orchard! Can't. Not enough property... next house. Everything else I'm good with. : )

I said too many weeds, but I just remembered my worst scourge is Argentine ants. No natural predators here. The colonies don't fight with each other so there's no "friendly fire". They farm aphids and scale and they nest under my hot tub and in my raised beds because they like porous soil. Every time I go into the garden or bring something from the outside in, I run the risk of introducing them into my house (which they've invaded before.) Grrr. I've even looked into having a pet anteater...

I'm with everyone who said, "too little time." This followed closely by too many deer and groundhogs!

A pet anteater is a great idea! I've got carpenter ants that would make a tasty snack!
My main problem is too little knowledge. I am so new to NE gardening (moved from central coast CA last year.) Thank heavens for Daves Garden and all the good folks who are helping me figure out how to garden with a winter. Thanks, everybody!!

Well, I worried about what introducing an exotic would do to the ecosystem even before I saw this article about a freak attack by an anteater.

http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/04/12/anteater.attack.reut/

Antlions, short-beaked echidnas and other things are also considered in my fantasies of Anticide.

So many weeds... so little time....
I had to decide between the two and finally said 'too little time' because if I had more time the weeds wouldn't be so much of a problem!

I said 'weeds'. specifically the hated Bermuda grass!!!!

I have too many deer. I have too many trees (suck up all the water), too much shade. and did I mention too many deer!

Other - I have just the right amount of sun and shade......it's just the wrong time of day. Shade in the morning and sun in the afternoon. Wish it was the other way around.

what is soil?

Too little time and too little area to plant all the too many plants I want to have. Hiya John!

Room, I want more room. Please let me win the lottery, buy a HUGE piece of acreage, and fill it up with every plant I can't fit or shoehorn in anywhere here. 70 x 140 with a house, garage, and two ponds just leaves me with a postage stamp to plant. Oh, and I would like the neighbor's silver maple to only drop it's leaves and those wingy things on their side of the fence thank you. Not too much to ask for is it?

This was a good one Dave. We are all in some sort of mess. I have too much sun, wind, alkaline, calcium, too hot and too cold but the worst is poor drainage and crappy caleche soil(clay), not to mention the weeds I used to have that took 3 years to clear out and kill, rabbits and gophers too. Heaven help a gardener, with no garden. Working on my first big Lasagna beds. Hope lingers.

Too little time. I have a new place with no trees too, except for the ones I planted. I kind of like planting my own though. I get to design and start my own garden beds, which is great. And in a few years, I'll have just the right number of trees, trees I like, and I'll be fussing about not having enough room. But in the meantime...lots of room.

Didn't someone mention money? As in not enough?

I voted other --

Too much wind. In the last several months, the winds seem to have gotten worse. And what does the wind bring ? The neighbor's dandelions.

That and bermuda grass. I go out there with the shovel and tell myself that every spadeful of bermuda grass I dig out makes me stronger. I can defeat it. I can.

(Please don't shatter my illusions.)

I'm still laughin at the "to much wife" post

Too little rain & snow (12" annually). Soil is too alkaline for wondrous exotic lovelies like azaleas, redbuds, laurel, tulip trees, blueberries, ... Also, too many destructo-deer. And not enough experience (me)! That's where you all come in.

On the other hand: Great conditions for peonies, clematis, roses, and alpine / rock garden plants.

Would like some large, lichen-covered rocks to sit on and design around, but how to get them from the mountains to my garden???

TOO MUCH MILAGE ON MY BACK!

TOO MANY WEEDS that I can't get rid of. Nutgrass, spotted spurge, and something that acts like rubber when you pull it.

And who said too much wife? My husband would be happy if we just had concrete, and he fusses about every plant purchase I make. "Where's that going to go?" he asks. nag nag nag

I hire landscaping for my front yard!

happytail - your DH and my DH share similar traits. Sorry! In my house it can be a case of a little too much hubby. He would prefer ashphalt - cheaper.

Rusty56 - Hired landscapers are great. Around here though they tend to make everyones' yard look the same. Same plants, same curved beds, same placement. All the "safe" stuff with no individuality or some of the finer plant choices. Your landscapers must be more discriminating.

Shoot, how about all of the above? Too much sun, too few trees, too little time, not enough good soil...shall I go on? LOL

All my soil is beach sand with 0 nutrients here in Florida. Its like a time capsule, you put something in the ground and it never changes, no growth in 2 years, Im surprised they stay green! I have to fertilize all the time.

Almost all of the choices, except too much sun--but especially one that I think should have been listed: too much cold! Not only now (still freezing hard each night) but all year too, with an average night low of 46 degrees during our 3 "hottest" months. But no point moaning about the weather since I can't change that...it's the &$%*#@!! grass weeds that really do me in!

Too much weed... bloody bindweeds make me cuss. Way too much weed and I'm reluctant to use some type of weed killer for fear of killing my precious plants. Bind weeds are driving crazy here!

Too much sun, not enough mature trees, too much clay, too many weeds, and too disabled to spend as much time in the garden as I would like....

Too little time, but if I did have more of it, I probably would complicate things by adding more gardens until I still couldn't keep up!

My DH would undoubtedly be happy if we just had a lot of grass and a few rhodies and/or azaleas. However, he doesn't complain much, just rolls his eyes. My garden spending could never catch up with his golf/cigarettes/alcohol expenditures, but I keep trying!!!

I suspect few of us actually have enough money to do all we would like!!

I have battled Bermuda Grass, and several other invasive weeds that seem to enjoy and thrive on Roundup!!! You would think it was Fertalizer.
Ants,Aphids and Snails are the ever persistant predators of my plants so now I keep the pest population down the best I can by hosing down with soapy water. With luck catch the re-seeding of the evil weeds before it happens, HA!
But my Front yard has gone from a hard clay wasteland to a wonderful garden.
I tell my husband that he's gotten off cheap, If it wasn't for my Gardens he would be paying for Therapy!!!
All in my family know that when Mom's in the garden Do not Disturb unless you're willing to get dirty.
It's my time.

We're never happy are we! :) mine is too little room, need a bigger garden or should that be I need a lottery win first.