Container Gardening

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All New Square Foot Gardening

by Mel Bartholomew from Cool Springs Press

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.

 

Of course, that's not all. We've also included simple, easy-to-follow instructions using lots of photos and illustrations. You're going to love it!

McGee & Stuckey's Bountiful Container: Create Container Gardens of Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, and Edible Flowers

by Rose Marie Nichols McGee from Workman Publishing Company

With few exceptions-such as corn and pumpkins-everything edible that's grown in a traditional garden can be raised in a container. And with only one exception-watering-container gardening is a whole lot easier. Beginning with the down-to-earth basics of soil, sun and water, fertilizer, seeds and propagation, The Bountiful Container is an extraordinarily complete, plant-by-plant guide.

Written by two seasoned container gardeners and writers, The Bountiful Container covers Vegetables-not just tomatoes (17 varieties) and peppers (19 varieties), butharicots verts, fava beans, Thumbelina carrots, Chioggia beets, and sugarsnap peas. Herbs, from basil to thyme, and including bay leaves, fennel, and saffron crocus. Edible Flowers, such as begonias, calendula, pansies, violets, and roses. And perhaps most surprising, Fruits, including apples, peaches, Meyer lemons, blueberries, currants, and figs-yes, even in the colder parts of the country. (Another benefit of container gardening: You can bring the less hardy perennials in over the winter.) There are theme gardens (an Italian cook's garden, a Four Seasons garden), lists of sources, and dozens of sidebars on everything from how to be a human honeybee to seeds that are All America Selections.

Cubed Foot Gardening: Growing Vegetables in Raised, Intensive Beds

by Christopher O. Bird from The Lyons Press

Here--in full color--is the new standard for vegetable gardening in the twenty-first century.

Chris Bird does all his vegetable gardening in thickly planted raised beds, framed in 2 X 12 lumber and filled with custom-blended soil. The results are both eye- and mouth-opening. Moreover, his method requires so little work that you'll feel guilty when you try it. Cubed Foot Gardening shows how to build these simple, inexpensive beds and how to grow the most popular vegetables in them, using innovative tricks and techniques that would not be possible to employ in a conventional garden. It explains the author's revolutionary methods for growing sweet corn as well as white asparagus, and tells how cubed foot gardening has helped him to win giant tomato contests every year.

Most of us still garden the way our grandparents did, a habit that goes back to our farm heritage. But if vegetable gardening were being discovered today for the first time, the rules would be quite different. We would all be cubed-foot gardeners.

Planting Green Roofs and Living Walls

by Nigel Dunnett from Timber Press

The green roof industry is booming and the technology changing fast as professionals respond to the unique challenges of each new implementation. In this comprehensively updated, fully revised edition of their authoritative reference, Nigel Dunnett and Noel Kingsbury reveal the very latest techniques, materials, and plants, and showcase some spectacular new case studies. Planting on roofs and walls began in Europe but is now becoming popular all over the world as people become aware of their beneficial impact on the environment. Green roofs and walls reduce pollution and run-off, help insulate and reduce the maintenance needs of buildings, contribute to biodiversity, and provide food and habitats for wildlife. In addition to all this, they are attractive to look at and by greening up living environments enhance the quality of life of residents. In Green Roofs and Living Walls the authors describe and illustrate the practical techniques required to design, implement and maintain a green roof or wall to the highest professional standards. They go on to explain how roofs may be modified to bear the weight of vegetation, discuss the different options for drainage layers and growing media, and list the plants suitable for different climates and environments. This informative, up-to-the-minute reference will captivate professionals with its illuminating new findings, and encourage gardeners everywhere to consider the enormous benefits to be gained from planting on their roofs and walls.

Incredible Vegetables from Self-Watering Containers: Using Ed's Amazing POTS System

by Edward C. Smith from Storey Publishing, LLC

Shiny green cucumbers; firm, juicy tomatoes; baby lettuces handpicked one salad at a time—these are the tasty benefits of the backyard vegetable garden. But earth gardens are a lot of work. They require a plot of plantable land and a significant time commitment to sowing, watering, weeding, and tending each plant.

Is there a solution? Self-watering containers allow vegetable gardeners—from the casual weekender interested in a tomato plant or two to the very dedicated gardener with limited space—to grow richly producing plants in a controlled, low-maintenance environment.

Lifelong gardener Ed Smith became fascinated with the possibilities of self-watering containers and began testing dozens of vegetables in various containers, experimenting with nutrients, soil mixtures, plant varieties, and container positioning. Now Smith is here to tell gardeners that anyone can grow and enjoy wonderful organic vegetables, using pots with continuous- flow watering systems.

Smith shares advice on choosing appropriate containers, how to provide balanced nutrition using his secret soil formula, and what additional tools benefit the container gardener. The reader will also find advice on starting from seed versus buying plants, which vegetables thrive in containers and which might be a bit more challenging, along with space-saving tips on pairing plants in single containers. After the last green tomato has been picked and is ripening on the windowsill, Smith wraps everything up with a chapter on fall clean-up and preparing for next spring. Now there’s really no excuse for store-bought tomatoes!

Easy Container Gardens (Pamela Crawford's Container Gardening)

by Pamela Crawford from Color Garden Publishing

Pamela Crawford has created a complete guide to simple container gardening designed for anyone who has ever killed a plant. It includes illustrated instructions to create gorgeous, fool-proof container gardens that even you can t kill! This book introduces blue ribbon plant combos that you plant in the spring and just add water for the entire growing season. That's right: no trimming, no fertilizing, and no spraying for up to seven months! Learn the 48 easiest plants and how to arrange them into 70 fabulous container recipes.

The Secret Techniques of Bonsai: A Guide to Starting, Raising, and Shaping Bonsai

by Masakuni Kawasumi II and Masakuni Kawasumi III from Kodansha International

In The Secret Techniques of Bonsai, the author of the groundbreaking Bonsai With American Trees teams up with his son to offer not only the basics for creating perfect bonsai, but also secret techniques they've developed over years of careful work and observation.
The Kawasumis provide detailed, easy-to-follow information about growing bonsai from seedlings or beginner plants; expert advice on shaping, pruning, training, grafting and repotting trees; and new techniques for using tools. And, although the Kawasumi family is worldrenowned for their bonsai tool design, their instructions allow gardeners to improvise with other readily-accessible bonsai, gardening or even simple workshop tools. Step-by-step photographs accompany the text, many in full-color.
Masakuni Kawasumi III, the first qualified tree doctor for bonsai in Japan, contributes his unique insights to make this an invaluable resource for beginners and experienced enthusiasts alike.

Pots in the Garden: Expert Design and Planting

by Ray Rogers from Timber Press, Incorporated

No longer a technique just for apartment dwellers or novice gardeners, the use of ornamental containers on decks, patios, terraces, and in the garden itself can save time, space, and money, while offering experienced home gardeners unique creative challenges, site flexibility, and experimental fun. Author and award-winning horticulturist Ray Rogers takes you on an engaging exploration into basic design principles as well as how to create focal points, use water, exploit the potential of empty containers, and more. Stunning photographs by Richard Hartlage provide guidance and inspiration, as well as visually explaining each principle. Gardeners at every level of experience will find inspiration and instruction in this comprehensive book.

The Complete Container Garden

by David Joyce from Readers Digest

Equal parts gorgeous and practical, Reader's Digest's The Complete Container Garden provides clear and straightforward advice accompanied by brightly colored close-up photography. From spring bulbs to winter berries, the range of plants and containers is tremendous, and the how-to tips are invaluable. You'll find techniques for training vines and topiary or planting strawberry jars, and generous coverage of basics like pruning, feeding, wintering, and deadheading.

The author pays great attention to choosing plants. The ideas for unusual foliage plants are exceptional, ranging from lovely purple-leaved cabbages to aromatic pelargonium. Only two brief pages are devoted to discussing pests and diseases, but the photos are a big help in identifying various creatures--for greater detail in getting rid of them, novice gardeners will need to look for other information sources.

Over 70 pages are devoted to descriptions of plants that are container-appropriate, and you'll have plenty to choose from in all categories--common bulbs and annuals as well as more unusual vegetables and small fruit trees are all represented with growing tips and optimal conditions, so you'll be sure to choose plants appropriate to your environment. Enjoyable inspiration for the novice or expert, you'll find this a worthy addition to both your coffee table and your reference shelf. --Jill Lightner

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.

Instant Container Gardens

by Pamela Crawford from Color Garden Publishing

Instant Container Gardens covers 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.