This is truly a must own for any gardener. Small-Plot, High Yield Gardening: How to Grow like a Pro, Save Money, and Eat Well by Turning Your Back Yard into a Organic Garden is an in-depth guide covering everything you need to know: Where to plant your garden, soil, seeds diseases, and details on specific veggies from artichokes to thyme. What sets this apart from other garden guides is its attention to detail, complete with photos and illustrations. Though Gilbertie and Sheehan nearly go off the rails when they introduce symbolism or describe the design value of an element without noting that it is also good horticultural practice (like topdressing alpines), this is otherwise a deft and lucid guide to ways of seeing the garden.
The rest of the book deals usefully enough with practical matters—choosing a pot (there are gorgeous ones in this book), container mixes, watering, fertilizers, and the like—and offers a selection of plant groups for containers. Gilbertie cautions that "container plants must be managed more attentively" than the same plants in the open garden he claims that containers "can be easily maintained in a short amount of time") and that "it is not as easy living life in a pot as it is in the ground." Gilbertie states, that "in most areas, hardy perennials need some sort of protection to keep them alive over winter" and "with reasonable care, a tree or shrub will survive for several years in a pot." There isn't any aspect of vegetable gardening that's not included here, even storing the harvest, discouraging animal pests and composting.
With this guidebook, you aren't left guessing. Between the superb blend of written explanation, drawings, and bullet-points, the authors have truly covered your entire gardening basis. I would not hesitate to recommend this book to any gardener or anyone interested in growing a garden.
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