Meet Our Expert Team

Sarah is a certified Master Gardener through the UC Cooperative Extension program with over 17 years of hands-on experience in urban agriculture. She founded AI Urban Gardening Planner in 2019 after recognizing that traditional gardening advice rarely addressed the unique challenges faced by apartment dwellers and urban growers.

Before launching AI Urban Gardening Planner, Sarah spent eight years managing community garden programs in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she taught container gardening workshops to over 3,000 urban residents. Her specialty is maximizing food production in spaces under 100 square feet.

Sarah has contributed to the American Horticultural Society's container gardening guidelines and regularly speaks at Master Gardener conferences about adapting traditional growing techniques for urban environments. She maintains test gardens on her apartment balcony where she trials new container varieties and techniques.

Michael brings 12 years of practical gardening experience to our content team, with particular expertise in hot-climate container growing and pest management. He earned his Master Gardener certification through Texas A&M AgriLife Extension in 2013.

As our Senior Content Editor, Michael oversees the accuracy and practical usefulness of all published guides. He reviews every article for horticultural accuracy and ensures recommendations are applicable across different growing conditions. His background in hot-climate gardening fills an important gap, as many urban gardeners face the challenges of growing in intense heat.

Michael manages our Austin-based test garden where he trials vegetables, herbs, and heat-tolerant varieties throughout the year. He's particularly passionate about helping first-time gardeners succeed and has developed many of our beginner-focused guides.

Emily specializes in sustainable urban agriculture and organic growing methods. She earned her Master Gardener certification through Oregon State University Extension in 2015 and holds a degree in Environmental Science with a focus on sustainable food systems.

As a Contributing Writer, Emily creates our guides on organic gardening, composting, soil health, and environmentally-friendly pest control. Her background in environmental science ensures our sustainability recommendations are grounded in current research.

Emily is also an active community garden coordinator in Portland, where she helps urban residents establish productive gardens in small spaces. She brings real-world insights from working with hundreds of beginner gardeners facing limited space and resources.

David focuses on indoor gardening, houseplants, and year-round growing using artificial lighting. He earned his Master Gardener certification through UC Cooperative Extension and holds a degree in Botany from San Francisco State University.

David's expertise is particularly valuable for urban gardeners who lack outdoor space or live in climates with short growing seasons. He develops our guides on grow lights, indoor herb gardens, windowsill vegetables, and houseplant care.

Before joining our team, David worked at a specialty indoor gardening store where he helped thousands of customers set up productive indoor growing systems. He maintains multiple indoor garden setups in his San Francisco apartment to test equipment and growing techniques.