Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11138 in Books
• Published on: 2002-02-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

From Publishers Weekly
McGee (Basic Herb Cookery) and veteran gardening writer Stuckey (Gardening from the Ground Up) share their expertise and experience in the art of container gardening. Armed with this manual, frustrated apartment dwellers can indulge their passion for growing edible things. If there is an available balcony, porch, front or back steps, according to the authors, growing produce in containers can be easy and rewarding. With some limitations, it is even possible to grow foods in a window box or on an indoor windowsill. This compendium of practical advice includes detailed information on the types of containers to use, equipment needed, the right soil, when to plant which seeds and how best to deal with problems such as too much or too little sunlight. They also explain more sophisticated techniques like succession planting, whereby ongoing seasonal planting takes place in the same container. This can yield a harvest of peas in early summer, tomatoes in late summer to early fall and kale that will grow into winter. Included are mouth-watering recipes for harvested container crops. Written for the beginner as well as for those with a background in gardening, McGee and Stuckey's directions are comprehensive, clearly written and frequently inspiring. Illus.

From the Back Cover
Clear and easy directions: Vegetables for every season: 21 varieties of beans, including favas and haricots verts; peppers from sweet orange Valencias to fiery Thai Dragons (a scorcher at 60,000 Scoville units); dwarf eggplants; fingerling potatoes; 17 terrific tomatoes; lettuces; and Asian greens like bok choy, mizuna, and Chinese kale. Herbs, including basils green and purple, exotic lemongrass, soothing chamomile, saffron crocus, and the essential culinary herbs such as parsley, rosemary, sage, tarragon, and the many thymes. Fruits: Meyer lemons, strawberries, gooseberries, figs, and even apples, peaches, and grapes. And edible flowers, like tart begonias, pepper nasturtiums, clove-spicy dianthus, and sweet daylilies, to add enchantment to meals.

Complete with all the basics of choosing the right containers, determining soil types, applying fertilizers, and knowing when to start from seed and when to start from seedling.

About the Author
Besides Storey's Country Tea Party, Maggie Stuckey has written a number of gardening books, such as Aromatherapy for Everyone, The Complete Herb Book, and Green Plants for Gray Days. She likes to grow tea herbs, and tea parties are one of the most pleasurable ways for her to spend time with her friends and her young niece. Maggie lives in Portland, Oregon.

Customer Reviews

Not what I expected
Unfortunately, although I read very good reviews on this book, it is not what I expected and doesn't cover many vegetables in great detail. Most of what I'm growing in containers is not covered in this book, which is what I was hoping for. Probably my fault, I should have researched more before buying.

Great info for container gardens
If you grow vegetables in containers then this book is a must. No pretty pictures just good tips. The only con is you might not find detailed info on a specific vegetable but you will find something on the family of vegetables.

I wish I could give it 10 stars!
I checked this out from my library expecting just to glance at a few topics, but I ended up reading every word! In fact, I only returned it to the library because it had a hold on it- so I decided to buy it :-) This is a great book- very thorough and as a beginning gardener it made me feel very encouraged to try anything I wanted. I am so glad I bought this! Oh, and no problems with shipping, it came right on time.