Must-Haves for the Gardener’s Library
These books are a must-have for a balcony container gardener's bookshelf. Click on each book’s title or photo to visit Amazon.com and learn more.
Title: Garden Up! Smart Vertical Gardening for Small and Large Spaces
Author: Susan Morrison and Rebecca Sweet
Description on Amazon.com: Filled with design tips, plant ideas and over 200 photos, Garden Up! offers inspiration and how-to information for enhancing any outdoor space with vertical elements. Authors Morrison and Sweet cover everything from living wall projects simple enough for a home gardener to tackle to creative plant solutions for blank walls and narrow beds.
In chapters like 'Arbors and Trellises' and 'Garden Secrets', the book offers a wealth of design advice and problem solving solutions for traditional gardeners. Small space gardeners, DIYers and those looking to incorporate the latest vertical techniques into their gardens will appreciate sections that examine 'skinny space' planting beds, urban gardens, edibles and living walls. In keeping with their problem solving approach to gardening and design, Morrison and Sweet have arranged their plant picks chapter by solution rather than plant type. Each chapter features a design spotlight that examines a specific garden and breaks down the elements that went into its creation.
The range of gardens included in the book support the authors' belief that vertical gardening is more than a temporary trend - it's here to stay.
BalconyContainerGardening.com’s Rating: Four Stars. Garden Up! offers great inspiration for the small- space gardener. Wonderful photos and interesting ideas fill this book, including recycled gardens, wall plantings and many ways to maximize a small garden space. This is an absolute must-have for balcony gardeners.
Title: How to Grow Practically Everything
Author: Zia Allaway
Description on Amazon.com: Packed with hundreds of gardening projects, from planting herbs in pots to creating a vegetable garden to feed the family, How to Grow Practically Everything gives complete beginners the confidence and know-how to grow almost anything. Each project is a complete package, with step-by-step photographic details and sumptuous end shots to ensure great garden results. How to Grow Practically Everything employs a user-friendly "recipe" formula free from intimidating jargon, covers different areas and types of gardens-from patios and terraces to beds and borders-and explores all the gardening basics, from identifying your soil to planting tips and pruning.
BalconyContainerGardening’s Rating: Five Stars. DK Books are always extremely thorough, well-written and include the best photos in the publishing world. How to Grow Practically Everything is just that, a book with detailed information and photos so that you can identify and choose plants that you’d like to grow in your balcony garden, and it helps arm you with the knowledge you need to do so.
Title: Gardening in Containers: Creative Ideas from America’s Best Gardeners
Author: Taunton Press and Fine Gardening
Description on Amazon.com: America's best gardeners share their secrets for designing beautiful container gardens. Gardening in Containers is filled with clever and inspiring ideas for creating dynamic plant combinations, designing containers for year-round interest, selecting the best plants, and using containers throughout the garden.
BalconyContainerGardening.com’s Rating: Four Stars. Fine Gardening magazine reprints some of its best articles in this paperback. Superb pictures grace these pages and instruct you in detail how you can grow plants for all seasons, combine plants, create your own trellis, learn about potting soil, forcing bulbs, growing roses and much more.
Title: The Practical Guide for Container Gardening
Author: Susan Berry and Steve Bradley
Description on Amazon.com: Gardening in containers offers boundless possibilities for cleverly decorating small areas indoors and out. Plus, container gardening is a manageable and fun way 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.
BalconyContainerGardening.com’s Rating: Five Stars. This paperback is a fantastic addition to your library. The Practical Guide for Container Gardening takes you step-by-step through creating a container garden. The book includes design, choosing containers, growing up, plant combinations, best plants for large and small containers, how to prune and train plants, how to care for and maintain your plants, and there is a handy container plant directory near the back, which includes care information. Short and sweet and simple to read, this is one of the best books about container gardening available.
Title: The Garden Primer: Second Edition
Author: Narnara Damrosch
Description on Amazon.com: Now the beloved classic is revised front-to-back. The new edition has gone 100% organic, which in Barbara Damrosch's hands also means completely accessible. It reflects the latest research on plants, soils, tools, and techniques. There is updated and expanded information on planning a garden, recommended plants, and best tools. Ecological issues are addressed much more extensively, covering lawn alternatives, the benefits of native species, wildlife-friendly gardens, and how to avoid harmful invasive species. More attention is paid to plants appropriate to the South, Southwest, and West Coast, while cold-climate gardeners are given detailed advice on how to extend the growing season. Simply put, the book is a richer and fuller compendium than ever before, with more text, more illustrations and garden plans, expanded plant lists, and gardener's resources. But Barbara Damrosch's core of practical, creative ideas and friendly style remain—she is still an "old-fashioned dirt gardener" at heart.
BalconyContainerGardening.com’s Rating: Five Stars. While the other books have a lot of pictures and are short and sweet, this book is more than 800 pages with just a few illustrations. This text-heavy monster book gives detailed accounts for successfully growing annuals, perennials, vegetables, herbs fruits, bulbs, roses, houseplants and more. This book is written for gardeners in general and not just balcony container gardeners, but it is still a noteworthy book and contains information about many of the plants that container gardeners keep. It is not a book to read through in bed before you go to sleep, but it is a wonderful reference to always have around.
