Product Description
A guide to creating easy-to-maintain container gardens that bring color and fragrance to every season. Includes a directory of almost 200 plants, organized by color and season, plus a month-by-month guide to keep plants thriving in their particular garden environment and local climate-while keeping maintenance and expenses to a minimum. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

gardening
This book is very informative and has some cool ideas.I can't wait to get started!!!Good pictures and helpful advise. ... Read more

Product Description
Our perennial best-seller is filled with expert advice and innovative ideas for container gardens that are flexible, practical, pleasing, and portable. Filled with over 500 full-color photos, 30 arrangements and a directory with over 1,000 plants.Amazon.com Review
Equal parts gorgeous and practical, Reader's Digest's TheComplete Container Garden provides clear and straightforwardadvice accompanied by brightly colored close-up photography. Fromspring bulbs to winter berries, the range of plants and containers istremendous, and the how-to tips are invaluable. You'll find techniquesfor training vines and topiary or planting strawberry jars, andgenerous coverage of basics like pruning, feeding, wintering, anddeadheading.

The author pays great attention to choosingplants. The ideas for unusual foliage plants are exceptional, rangingfrom lovely purple-leaved cabbages to aromatic pelargonium. Only twobrief pages are devoted to discussing pests and diseases, but thephotos are a big help in identifying various creatures--for greaterdetail in getting rid of them, novice gardeners will need to look forother information sources.

Over 70 pages are devoted todescriptions of plants that are container-appropriate, and you'll haveplenty to choose from in all categories--common bulbs and annuals aswell as more unusual vegetables and small fruit trees are allrepresented with growing tips and optimal conditions, so you'll besure to choose plants appropriate to your environment. Enjoyableinspiration for the novice or expert, you'll find this a worthyaddition to both your coffee table and your reference shelf. --JillLightner ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

The Complete Container Garden
Very helpful book for container gardeners or "wannabes"! Photos are wonderful and instructions easy to follow.

The Complete Container Garden
This is a great book for someone who is new to gardening (like me). It has great pictures with explanations and ideas for projects. Everything is organized in an easy to understand format.

Going To Pot (s)
Well, I was going to entitle my review, Contain Yourself, but I can see that's actually a real title of a container gardening book. I've always had a green thumb. Even as a teenager. I used to grow stuff in my closet all the time with a grow light and a water drip and all that stuff. Of course, the day that the feds came and confiscated my closet garden is another story for another day...

But I'm in my 40s now and I was beginning to think that my age was just synonomous for a "ho-hum" existence because the only herbs I grow now are tarragon, basil, oregano, and parsley. You could probably smoke these too, but I don't want to have hallucinations of Chef Boyordee.

The house that I am currently renting has a very long breezeway between the garage and the house. When I first looked at it, I found it horribly unattractive. I almost didn't rent the house because of it, but I had to follow my own advice and "look beyond the appearances" and realize with "real eyes" that I could do something to beautify that awkward breezeway.

So I got a few container gardening books...this being my favorite and learned what plants should be grouped with others for dramatic as well as beautiful effects. I also became obsessed with finding unusual containers to put my plants in. Oh, I have the standard terra cotta pots but I also found some pretty unusual containers that I have turned into planters, my favorite being an old rusty army steel soup tureen that I simply drilled a few holes in the bottom. It's quite the conversation piece.

I now love that breezeway. I'm always out there planting, digging, and just enjoying the sheer beauty of nature. Emerson was quite right when he said, "To the dull mind, all nature is leaden; to the illuminated soul, the whole world burns and sparkles with Light" because when I'm sitting in my container garden early in the morning, I can see the Beautiful, Wondrous Light that all creation is made in and out of.

Know that you're also part of this Light. Get this wonderful book and learn how not only to transform a dull area into a thing of beauty, but learn how to invigorate a ho-hum existence into something joyfully radiant.

Peace and Blessings, you "pot" heads...
john, "the Light Coach"

Container Gardening
This is THE book for apartment-condo dwellers and gardeners who need to know EVERYTHING about planting in a pot! The garden directions explain how to, when to, what to plant and in what kind of outdoor conditions. (shade, sun, cold, hot, dry soil etc.)Individual plants are carefully discussed.Good color pictures as well. It would be hard to be black-thumb gardener using this book.

Gorgeous photos and brilliant ideas
From small pots to window boxes to tubs and improvised containers,
color photographs display a staggering array of containers while the text discusses advantages and disadvantages from aesthetics to expense and durability.

Joyce gives instructions for decorating planters and choosing soil mixes, watering, pruning, propogating and winterizing.

Much of the book is devoted to particular plantings ? directions for alpine gardens, hanging cascades of fuchsia, late winter bulbs, foliage contrasts, various color arrangements. Each model planting is accompanied by a list of needed materials and plants and a planting diagram.

Joyce concludes with a descriptive and illustrated list of plants and foliage suited to container growing, arranged by color. Other lists include aromatics, shade-tolerant plants, pool plants, dwarf bulbs, flowering shrubs and more.
This is a comprehensive guide with lots of ideas. ... Read more

Product Description
Do you know what the best feature is in All New Square Foot Gardening?

Sure, there are ten new features in this all-new, updated book. Sure, it's even simpler than it was before. Of course, you don't have to worry about fertilizer or poor soil ever again because you'll be growing above the ground.

But, the best feature is that "anyone," "anywhere" can enjoy a Square Foot garden. Children, adults with limited mobility, even complete novices can achieve spectacular results.

But, let's get back to the ten improvements. You're going to love them.

1) New Location - Move your garden closer to your house by eliminating single-row gardening. Square Foot Garden needs just "twenty percent" of the space of a traditional garden.

2) New Direction - Locate your garden "on top" of existing soil. Forget about pH soil tests, double-digging (who enjoys that?), or the never-ending soil improvements.

3) New Soil - The new "Mel's Mix" is the perfect growing mix. Why, we even give you the recipe. Best of all, you can even "buy" the different types of compost needed.

4) New Depth - You only need to prepare a SFG box to a depth of 6 inches! It's true--the majority of plants develop just fine when grown at this depth.

5) No Fertilizer - The all new SFG does not need any fertilizer-ever! If you start with the perfect soil mix, then you don't need to add fertilizer.

6) New Boxes - The new method uses bottomless boxes placed aboveground. We show you how to build your own (with step-by-step photos).

7) New Aisles - The ideal gardening aisle width is about three to four feet. That makes it even easier to kneel, work, and harvest.

8)New Grids - Prominent and permanent grids added to your SFG box help you visualize the planting squares and know how to space for maximum harvest.

9)New Seed Saving Idea - The old-fashioned way advocates planting many seeds and then thinning the extras (that means pulling them up). The new method means planting a pinch- literally two or three seeds--per planting hole.

10) Tabletop Gardens - The new boxes are so much smaller and lighter (only 6 inches of soil, remember?), you can add a plywood bottom to make them portable.

Customer Reviews (308)

Excellent Gardening Book
Although I am in the reading phase, this book lines out gardening in common sense fashion. I am excited to get started with a plan to build four of these boxes and get started with EASY gardening - no rows, less weeds, portability, crop rotation so things are fresh and on and on. Highly recommend buying this - have a friend who is a true farmer that has adopted this method and swears by it.

Full Square
Good tips for making gardening more fun, practical.Tips can be adapted to style of gardening you may already be practicing.Lots of good ideas as your seasons progress.

Throw the Old Square Foot Gardening Edition Away
If you have the original edition of "Square Foot Gardening," throw it in your composter because that is about all it is good for compared to this one.Mel now gives you step-by-step pictures on how to do almost everything in the book.In addition, he has greatly changed and streamlined the entire square foot gardening process, making it far simpler than it was back in the old days when he had his show on PBS.By the way, does anyone remember how he had a segment where he demonstrated tools and after each one was explained he would just chuck it over his shoulder sending it crashing to the ground?That, and the fact that he had an Abe Lincoln beard back then made him seem a little crazy, but you can't judge a book by its cover, or an edition by its title.This is a wonderful book, and it will provide everything you need to know to garden effectively in a small space.I offer one caveat - forget everything you ever learned about gardening before reading this book.His approach runs so counter to conventional gardening that if you attempt to create a mental melange of his ideas and yours, you might just bruise your brain.

Replacing lost copy
I owned the previous edition, but lost it and many other books when my house flooded. This is one of the few I've replaced. This one has added some tables of info that can be handy.
Everytime I start wondering if the cost of building those boxes and using the special mix is worth it, I remember what I paid for the tiller that also drowned in the flood. I can "till" this mix with my fingers! No gas, no oil, no noise, no fumes, no storage space needed. I'm in an apartment now, not a house, so that is important.

Square Foot Gardening
This is a truly unjique approach to gardening, designed to take the pain away.All tha work goes away and the fun comes out. I would give it 4 stars except is was so well written as well. You must have this book if you want great flowers or vegtables the easy way for years and years to come!!! This will really change your gardening experience. If you don't have the ability to think outside the box though, you will waste your money. I was not much of a gardener before this book because it was a lot of work and it just wasn't all that fun. This book brings gardening alive and makes it a blast. It also makes it truly easy. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (6)

Water Gardening
This book was just what I wanted to help me learn about water plants and marginal plants.It was in easy to understand, plain language and is a very concise.Great pictures and the price was right also.

Many pretty pictures and neat ideas, but not enough info
This book is well illustrated and is a great "idea book" for people who want to see the many types of container water garden possibilities. There are also several useful tips that make the book worthwhile. Contents are: 1. Basics, 2. Tub gardens, 3. Dish and indoor gardens, 4. Hanging baskets, 5. Planters & window boxes, 6. Creative containers, 7. Patio ponds, 8. Fountains, statuary & wall containers, 9. Paludariums (semi-aquatic glass tank gardens that can house plants & pets), 10. Lotus, 11. Carnivorous plants. Who knew there were so many types of water container gardens? Several chapters have step-by-step pictures for setting up the containers and placing fixtures and plants.

However, the book is terribly deficient in detail - each chapter has about a brochure's worth of text. Although many pond books suggest that novices will find a container garden to be an easy first water project, there are some unique challenges - in particular: temperature control, selecting pumps & filters suitable for small containers, controlling quality of a small water volume, and choosing plants that are best for containers. I have several pond/general water gardening books, and I bought this book hoping for more info specific to container gardens.

The book is particularly deficient in information about the various plants. Unlike most water garden books, there is no section devoted to plant specifications and requirements (other than lotuses and carnivorous plants). In many of the photographs, the plants are not identified at all, and in some they are incorrectly identified. This severely limits the value of the book as a brainstorming tool. The book also does a very poor job of explaining the water quality and temperature problems that will arise if one attempts to add fish or other animals to the container. Finally, there is no climate zone related information, and there is no discussion whatsoever of what to do with these gardens in the winter.

Part of my disappointment with this book is that I bought the hardcover edition and paid too much for it (doh!). I think this book is worth it as an idea book, just realize that to create a container water garden of your own, this is by no means the only book you will need.

Nice but no detail.
This book illustrates nice ideas but falls short in details. Very basic.

Another plus for container gardening
I have a smaller suburban yard and every corner is utilized.Though envious of a friend with an in-ground pond and waterfall, I did not want to dig up exsisting shrubs and perennials to satisfy my yen for water.SinceI already grow vegetables, herbs, ornamental grasses and perennials incontainers, I thought why not a water garden.This book showed me what Icould do with one of my empty oak barrels.I had a lovely mini pond withrunning water.I added 3 fish, water plants, and bought some toad tadpolesfrom a nearby garden centre.I liked it so much I'm going to do somesmaller containers as well as a couple of glazed pots with water lilys. The only thing is to overwinter water plants you need a small indooraquarium with grow lights, or a helpful friend with a pond.Enjoy andexperiment! P.S. Although the toads might not be able to breed in my yard,for the rest of the summer the little toadlets were happily hopping aroundin my yard eating bugs.

Excellent water gardening ideas and examples!
I love this book!I have always been enamoured with ponds and water gardens, but thought I would have to own a home to have one.This book shows how to create the perfect container water garden for any size yard,patio, or even room.Great how-to's step by step.Gorgeous pictures. Great ideas.Thank you for such a beautiful, practical and affordablebook! ... Read more

Product Description
Gardening in containers offers boundless possibilities for cleverly decorating small areas indoors and out. Plus, container gardening is a manageable and funway for anyone to garden. This inspiring and beautiful step-by-step book on the fastest growing category in gardening is a comprehensive reference to what containers work best for what plants, seasonal planting schemes, simple planting techniques, and plant maintenance. With this book, anyone can explore the joys of gardening, whether they live in a rural setting or a city apartment. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Gardening
This is a wonderful book.I like the ideas and the visuals as well as the dictionary of different plants at the back.I like how the book helps you with color and balance as well as limited space.How different plants can be combined in containers.I have a porch on the back of my apartment and want to grow plants there.

A Great Book
I've been gardening outdoors for more years than I'd care to admit but, potted plants were nothing I had really ever done. I'd buy hanging pots of Petuina or lantana and that would be that.
The Practical Guide to Container Gardening opened me up to a whole new way of thinking about potted plants!
EVERYTHING is covered from what kind of pots you can choose to what plants grow best in what light and space. How to care for your plants once they are in pots or need to be re-potted
This book is full of gorgeous photo's to give you great ideas and to show wonderful combinations you may not have thought of on your own!
... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Pretty pics, but that's about all
Don't bother buying this book unless the intended recipient is a novice at container-gardening.As a reference book, it falls way short.For example, the "bulbs" chapter lists just 11 selections, "shrubs" 17, few with pictures.(The "pretty pics" in my title refer to photos of finished gardens and patios.Nice, but you can find that in any old shelter magazine.)In fact, there are dozens if not hundreds of plants that will grow happily in containers...if you give them the right conditions.The prose, too, reminds me of a magazine:cheerful and generic.This pretty book might encourage someone to try container gardening, but they'd sure want a more practical guide before long. ... Read more

Product Description
Part of the GARDENING WORKBOOKS series, a title which describes how to create 20 different containers with fold-out pages showing the finished project, a list of materials required and a sequence of step-by-step instructions. ... Read more

Product Description
8-1/4" x10-3/4" Soft Cover. Chapters include: What Is Container Gardening?, How To Garden In Containers, Plants That Like To Live In Containers, Where To Put Them And How To Use Them, plus Index. Pictures with diagrams. ... Read more

Product Description
Instant Container Gardenscovers a revolutionary, new container garden system that will completely transform your garden. The basis for the system is a unique type of container that has holes in the sides that are large enough to accommodate mature plants. Planting through these holes, along with planting the top of the basket, yield instant, fabulous results. And it is easy! Most of the containers in this book were planted by beginners!The containers are available as hanging baskets, window boxes, wall pots, and dramatic, new baskets on columns. The book includes 33 container profiles that were personally grown by the author. Each profile includes complete planting and maintenance instructions.Step-by-step illustrated demonstrations, along with lots of practical planting and maintenance information, make designing and growing plants in these containers quick and easy.The author planted over 10,000 plants in the course of researching the material for the book. She recommends 34 of the top choices, with detailed growing instructions for each.Before and after photos show complete makeovers of the front of a house, a porch, front walkway, and porch. Learn how to transform your home in as little as a few hours with this unique, new container system. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Instant Container Gardens
This is a great book for gardeners.I love it and will use it for all my gardening needs.

lonnie
The pictures are beautiful and its very clearly written with lots of detail and easy to follow instructions.

Can't wait to get started!
I have visions for my country yard and Pamela Crawford's side planters are just what I need.This book has inspired me to invest in a few of her products and give it a try - I don't think I will fail with the fool proof information she provides in this book.

Instant Container Gardens
Bought this book at the request of my husband who has been container gardening for several years.He absolutes loves the new ideas, tips, and step-by-step instructions for success.Before and after pictures and plant types to combine are also very helpful.Our yard has never been more beautiful!And he has been asked by our local Garden Club to guest lecture on container gardening.Wonderful and easy to follow book--and it's fun!Highly recommend it.

Wonderful book
This book is wonderful for beginner or experienced gardeners.It is laid out really well with excellent instruction including how many of each plant to use.It even includes a list of flowers NOT to use as they died in the trials. I have not started my containers yet since it's still a a little too cool here.Only drawback is that the containers are a little pricey and finding substitutes of similar dimensions is difficult.The photos are beautiful and gives an great idea of what the finished product should look like.WONDERFUL BOOK!!! ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description
Would you like to grow a patio full of soup? Grow your own jungle or make your house a rainbow of flowers? You can do all this and more if you learn how to build a container garden. You ll hunt in closets, trash cans, and basements to find great containers for your plants. You can grow everything from tiny roses to giant jungle leaves. You don t need a yard for your container garden. All you need are pots, cans, boxes, or baskets, a little dirt and some plants and your imagination. ... Read more

Product Description
Packed with the newest ideas in container planting, this one-stop reference covers it all, from selecting and decorating pots to fun and easy design concepts. Here are techniques; suggestions for places to plant (from the table to the railings); seasonal displays; and a bouquet of “special effects.” Bonus: an A-to-Z directory of the best container plants-including the latest drought-resistant species.
... Read more

Product Description
When author Pamela Crawford first started writing her newest book, she expected it to be short, about 100 pages or so. After all, she pondered, how many different ways can you arrange plants in a pot? But, as she began her research, the book grew into a major 368-page reference book with a companion DVD movie! Obviously, there was a lot more to container gardening than she had originally thought!This project was begun to accomplish three goals. Ms. Crawford’s first goal was to push the limits of container design - take it farther than she had ever seen it done in Florida. To accomplish this formidable task, she hit the road, traveling to areas where she knew container design was quite advanced. She ended up researching this project in Manhattan, the Hamptons, Long Island, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Vancouver. Then, she searched Florida and spent time with experts who were doing great container work, like the staff at Universal Studios in Orlando and Sanchez and Maddux, landscape architects in Palm Beach. The designs shown in this book evolved from these experiences and illustrate a variety of styles of container gardening - from sleek, sophisticated interior containers (152-159) to country garden containers (pages 36-37).She spent time searching out the best suppliers for both plants and containers and brought many of their products to Florida to test them in the tough southern climate. Ms. Crawford and her assistants, Barbara Hadsell and Miguel Olivares, had fun testing over 10,000 plants and hundreds of containers in her gardens in Lake Worth. “We let our imaginations run wild with all these design ideas, plants, and spectacular pots. We are fortunate to have enough space to allow each container arrangement to grow to its maturity. This made it possible for us to report on its performance to you,” said Ms. Crawford.Her second goal was to develop a design system that is easy to understand for beginners. She shared that her first tries with gardening in containers produces a lot of problems as she learned how to design and plant containers from books. She bought book after book, and even after fallowing their instructions over and over again, most of the projects she attempted simply failed. It was at that point Ms. Crawford bought a video that taught her more in thirty minutes than she had learned in the previous ten years. At that moment, she knew that her book on container gardening had to have an accompanying DVD movie to make the learning process easy. She encourages her readers to “watch the DVD movie (sold separately) for thirty minutes and skim chapters 1, 2, and 15 in this book (include chapter 4 if you are ready to try a hanging basket). You will be ready to design and plant container gardens like the pros in no time at all!”The third goal of this book was to create a major reference work that people would keep for many years and refer to whenever they have a question about container gardening. So, Ms. Crawford made sure the book covered many different aspects of container gardening - like window boxes, wall pots, hanging baskets, diverse containers (for sun, salt, wind, shade, low water), planting and maintaining orchids, and how to use containers in the landscape. The book also covers many technical aspects of container gardening, like watering systems, soil, and fertilizer.The DVD movie is also a reference work. It covers container design basics plus three planting demos - a bowl, a hanging basket, and the planting and care of an orchid. Since the planting demos contain a lot of information, gardeners will benefit from re-watching them from time to time. The DVD movie is packaged in a box that fits right next to the book on a bookshelf.Researching this book opened up a whole new world to the author about the fun and satisfaction of container gardening. She comments that “I am so happy to share this great hobby with all of my Florida friends.” ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

CONTAINER GARDENS FOR FLORIDA
This book was very informative with well presented, clear pictures.I recommend it unhesitatingly.

Container Gardens for Florida
Excellent, informative book with lots of pictures. Great book for the new Florida resident. I have a friend in South Carolina who is going to purchase it as well because a lot of these can be grown in the warm seasons there.

Outstanding!
Container Gardens for Florida is the kind of step-by-step book I pray for when I'm taking on new projects.It is filled with useful information about container gardening in Florida climates.Beginners and intermediates are sure to find something new.Much of the information is presented in pictures, which serve their purpose perfectly.They are crystal clear, informative, beautiful and inspiring.I can't wait to read Crawford's other books.

Another winner from Pamela Crawford
My favorite books for Florida gardening are ALL hers!They are my gardening bibles. Easy Garden for South Florida and Best Garden Color for Florida are absolutely her best two books for outdoor gardeners in FL.I don't use this one as much, but if you love container gardening, it's VERY organized, lots of great color pics and her usual easy-to read style. I with the Easy Garden and Best Garden Color books were combined into one large book, because I always use both at the same time, but that's the way she wrote them.maybe she'll combine them some day!

A must have for anyone living in Florida!
Our climate is so very difficult to successfully grow flowers, especially in containers.No more hit and miss attempts, my containers are the most beautiful I have ever grown...now all my fingers have become green thumbs!I highly recomment this book to anyone who wishes to grow beautiful container gardens.It has become my planning and planting bible! ... Read more

Product Description
Tells gardeners how to find or make containers, plant the herbs, and artfully integrate pots into an existing garden.Beautiful color photographs and helpful charts appear throughout. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Anyone Can Grow Herbs!
This is a wonderful book for people who want to grow their gardens in pots. I have a special affinity for herbs of all kinds and this is priceless with its tips and instructions. Service when I ordered was first rate. And the price was right.

Just have to have it...
These guys are random (in a good way) and give a great read. A plethora of information & Beautiful pictures inspires Lots of ideas!

Sweet little book...
HERBS IN POTS by Rob Proctor and David Macke is a sweet little book filled with all sorts of "neat" ideas. If you don't have much experience growing plants in containers or otherwise, pots of herbs are a good place to begin. Even if you have limited space, as long as you have plenty of sunlight (a balcony in the blazing sun?) you can grow herbs in pots. If you end up buying your herbs at Whole Foods, you can use the recipes the authors share and put your herbs in the cooking pot.

This is a beautiful glossy book with lots of color photos. The authors are folksy and fun to read and they provide text and pictures that explain how you too can grow beautiful pots of herbs and use them in tasty dishes.

Chapter one discusses 'Herbal Care' where practical hints are provided for the new herb grower. Take watering for example. Even drought tolerent herbs require watering. On the other hand, depending on the pot of choice, overwatering can cause problems. The authors note the most likely cause of death is not Mother Nature, but Mother Hen overwatering her pots.

The second chapter is entitled 'The Cook's Patio' and contains photos of handome lettuces, lacy kale, and Italian parsley, as well as many interesting recipes. One can grow herbs singly or in groups in a single pot.Herbs provide accents for the cooking pot as well as the patio. Gazpacho or Pesto anyone?

The later half of the book provides the reader with examples of pot containers, planting designs, and eclectic notions.For example, one might plant herbs in used Twining tea tins or enhance plant containers with odd paraphanalia such as shells and small rocks. The book is visually appealing, and contains some of the most original ideas I've come across in a while. This is a nice gift item for a new homemaker. ... Read more

Product Description
Pamela Crawford, container garden guru and the queen of easy gardening, has done it again in this groundbreaking book. She shows you how to grow vegetables in containers with such easy techniques that even the worst gardener can have bumper crops of tomatoes! And, for the first time in any book, she shows how to make your vegetables look great, worthy of the nicest patio! Pamela grew 1768 plants in the course of writing this book and shows her mistakes (bloopers) along with her successes so that you won't make the same mistakes with your vegetables. With these simple-to-follow instructions, you won t believe how easy and beautiful your containerized vegetable garden can be! The book is extremely easy to read, with over 500 gorgeous pictures. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

helpful, quick to read, good advice
I bought this book as a companion to McGee & Stuckey's Bountiful Container: Create Container Gardens of Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, and Edible Flowers, so that I would have some idea of what my containers would look like mature. Bountiful Container Gardens is a great book, but it doesn't have any pictures in it. As a novice gardener, I don't have enough experience to be able to picture these plants in my head well enough to be able to plan container gardens around them, so it helped me a lot to be able to look at color photos of actual vegetable container gardens. Don't be put off by the comments that mention Ms. Crawford's side-planting system--she does mention it, but even if you aren't going to use side-planters, the book is still very helpful at a reasonable price. It isn't a beautiful book by any stretch of the imagination, but the pictures and the information are straightforward, to the point and very helpful. It even includes photographs of bloopers too, to help you avoid the author's mistakes. One thing that was nice about this book, is that Ms. Crawford had no experience growing vegetables when she wrote it, so a lot of the information is very helpful to novices like myself, because she doesn't presume the reader knows anything at all (however, the information is insufficient on its own--if you are new to gardening, get another book for information--either Bountiful Container Gardens or the Burpee Garden Cyclopedia: A Concise, Up-to-date Reference For Gardeners At All Levels. The Burpee Garden Cyclopedia is the best book I have bought on gardening. If you can only afford one book, that is the one to get.

container gardens
After seeing this book noted in the newspaper, I thought it sounded like a fun idea to try.It was a great success; the author has taken the guess work out of what to try together so your chances for a pretty and productive container are assured.Give it a try!!

Great Little Book
A Great Little Book with lots of big ideas that I'm looking forward to trying and am already sketching the plans for.

Inspirational and Easy to follow
I bought this book and brought it on a trip with a friend. The friend liked it so much she begged me to keep it. I just came from her home and she has created 3 different baskets of flowers and vegetables, just from reading this book. I have since reordered the book so that I try my hand at easy container gardening. Every gardener that sees this book, loves it and wants one for themselves! Finally a book for container gardening that even a novice can understand and follow.
Easy Container Combos: Vegetables & Flowers (Pamela Crawford's Contianer Gardening)

Fabulous!
I love this book! Her writing is interesting & she even lists the plants in each arrangement so you can copy them if you wish.And the pictures are out of this world! I hope to eventually get my garden to look like those. ... Read more

Product Description
Now you can create the garden of your dreams, no matter how limited your growing space is. Pat Lanza's proven lasagna gardening method produces amazing results in pots and small plots. Even in beds just 4 inches wide, you can grow bountiful, beautiful gardens with no digging, no weeding-- no kidding!
... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

lasagna gardening for small spaces
The book arrived two days after I placed my order and I must be the second person who opened it.My book is in better condition than a lot of new books and I could not be more pleased with the way my order was handled.I would definitely order again from this dealer.

Lasagna Gardening For Small Spaces
Wonderful book. Simple useful ideas for small gardens. If you're going "green" this book is for you. After taking this book out of the library and putting many post-it notes on the pages, I decided I had to have it!!

No Problems - Excellent
The book arrived in a timely manor and was in great condition. No problems, I would buy again!

...
This book has received a lot of mixed reviews, so I just wanted to say: I liked it.

It's true that it's not perfect. I find that few gardening books are universally ideal. This one is oriented towards sunny locations, and it has the flaw that many small-space gardening books have--the small-space seems to get bigger and bigger until it seems like we're talking about a fair-sized garden. Also, there are tons of personal details, really to excess. And one hears a great deal about the writer's current garden/shop/restaurant, much more than is interesting. Another reviewer suggested that perhaps it'd be more interesting if there were pictures of this place, and I agree, that might be a good idea.

Nevertheless, there were some great tips in here. Lanza takes the approach that you can be very ambitious even if you have a small garden, and that suits me very well. So she points out, for example, that climbing plants and vines are a great way to use every bit of space for spectacular effect. She also has lots of little suggestions; I found especially useful the idea of storing tools etc in tupperware/sweater boxes, tucked away. Also, her description of layering compost etc in the containers was useful to me.

It's true that little in this book is original, but then, originality is not usually the strength of gardening books. Somebody somewhere almost always knows the same techniques. It's a matter of presenting things in such a way that they are helpful to the reader.

I guess I would recommend trying to get this book from the library first--as I would with most gardening books. It has some great qualities, but it's not perfect, and it's worth making sure that it's useful to you personally before buying it.

The book I've been searching for . . .
Finally, a gardening book that doesn't assume you have acres of land and a barn full of expensive equipment--or that you have the money to go out and buy them.

For three years I've been limited to a small balcony, after having lived my life with a large garden. Instead of going through gardening withdrawals, I decided to fill some containers with soil and see what I could grow. I've learned a lot through trial and error, but I've also been on the lookout for a good gardening book that could give me some encouragement and some fresh ideas. "Lasagna Gardening for Small Spaces" is that book.

I found Patricia Lanza's book to be extremely practical and down-to-earth. Even if you don't use her "lasagna" method to create your garden, you can still benefit from her advice about maximizing any small space you have to work with. The basic idea is if you don't have room to grow out, then grow up! And she's not just talking about flowers. She shows how easy it is to grow satisfying crops of just about any vegetable or fruit in tiny plots of land and containers. And she shows how to do it without spending any money. This book is peppered with ideas about how to use things we might consider to be trash as decorative containers, plant supports, and garden tools.

I was especially impressed with the section on pests and disease. Not only does she explain organic remedies for pest and disease problems, she spends time describing simple, natural ways to prevent pests and diseases from even becoming a problem, including a list of plants that attract beneficial insects (so you don't have to spend money to buy eggs or larvae from a catalog).

Perhaps what I am most grateful for in this book is its fearlessness. If the only space you have is a few containers on a balcony, Patricia Lanza doesn't tell you to buy some nice impatiens from the nursery--she tells you to grow an apple tree! If you've been discouraged by the typical container gardening book--you know, the kind that tells you to go out and buy a ridiculously expensive decorative pot and fill it with flashy annuals from the nursery--then give this book a try. Hopefully it will give you the courage to grow a satisfying garden--flowers, vegetables, and even fruits--with whatever space you have to work with, even just a few pots on a balcony, like I have. ... Read more

Product Description
Since 1973, Storey's Country Wisdom Bulletins have offered practical, hands-on instructions designed to help readers master dozens of country living skills quickly and easily. There are now more than 170 titles in this series, and their remarkable popularity reflects the common desire of country and city dwellers alike to cultivate personal independence in everyday life. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Good intro to herbs in containers
Is a balcony all you have for your garden? Want to grow tasty herbs anyway? This is an inexpensive way to get the basics on starting your herb garden in containers. It is a Storey guide, which are almost always guaranteed to give you good info. Definitely worth the few bucks it costs.

Average booklet for gardening
This was an inexpensive booklet.It was good for basic information, but the information was basic enough that it could be found in any other type of Herb Gardening book.It's not something I will reference very often.

You get what you pay for
At 32 pages you really do get what you pay for.Minimal info on only common herbs, precious little indoor growing information, and certainly nothing that you can't find easily on the web. ... Read more

Product Description
Capturing the colours and age-old traditions of rural areas everywhere, Inspired Container Gardening opens up a whole new world of container planting, with advice on choosing the right plants for all types of containers. Packed with ideas for gardens of all sizes, the book features 10 easy-to-follow craft projects for creating original and striking containers of your own. An intensely visual book, Inspired Container Gardening overflows with beautiful photographs that will inspire enthusiastic gardeners everywhere to achieve these charming effects. ... Read more

Product Description
Gardening in containers adds variety to the gardener's art, especially for small gardens in tight spaces.Portable, flexible, container gardens allow you to garden where you never could before, and let you bring blooming plants forward, or hide them when they're dormant.

... Read more