The Edible Container Garden: Growing Fresh Food in Small Spaces [Paperback]

Michael Guerra (Author), Gaia books (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2000

"No space is too small to grow delicious and healthy food."

Enjoying tasty and fresh produce no longer requires a trip to the local farm stand or gourmet grocery. With "The Edible Container Garden" as your guide, everything from salad greens and savory herbs to luscious fruits and vegetables can be as close as your patio, balcony, or rooftop.

"The Edible Container Garden" explains how to plant, grow, and harvest vegetables, edible flowers, fruits, and herbs, even when time and space are limited. Discussing the wide variety of planting options, from simple window boxes and raised garden beds to trellises and other vertical structures, "The Edible Container Garden" shows you how to

Decide what kinds of plants you want to grow and which soil to use to keep them healthy and vibrant

Select the right containers and tools to design a beautiful and fertile garden

Discover which seasons are best for certain plants so you can design a practical and productive growing space

Feed, tie, prune, and clip your plants to fit almost anywhere, whether they're in containers, over arches, or even along footpaths

Illustrated with beautiful color photographs and packed with helpful and creative tips, "The Edible Container Garden" provides all the information you'll need to transform your outdoor space into a bountiful paradise.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

It wouldn't matter whether or not a single strawberry or tomato raised in the pots pictured in this book ever made it to the table--they are beautiful ornamental plantings, worth growing just for their looks. But author and British permaculture expert Michael Guerra promises fresh-tasting, pesticide-free produce, and the chance to grow a luscious array of fruits and vegetables not available at the supermarket, all in small raised beds, pots, or window boxes. Whether you garden on the balcony of a condominium, the deck of a houseboat, or just choose to pack your garden with ornamentals rather than edibles, this book brings hope that you can easily harvest homegrown food, including herbs and edible flowers.

"Gardening is like learning to cook," writes Guerra. "Start with the basics and with practice your menu will increase." He starts out with clear instructions about the basics of raised bed construction, soil enrichment, and maintenance of edibles. The most useful and unique parts of the book are the chapters entitled "What Shall I Grow?" that suggest the best varieties of salad greens, berries, peas, and peppers, as well as a great many more, for smaller gardens. Enlivened by color photographs and featuring detailed lists to aid in plant choices, this is a fine introduction to urban food gardening on even the smallest property. --Valerie Easton

About the Author

An expert in ecological design, Michael Guerra is a consulting editor to Permaculture Magazine and a regular contributor to Resurgence and many other environmental publications. He lives in England.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Fireside (March 30, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684854619
• ISBN-13: 978-0684854618
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 7.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #176,930 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

136 of 136 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Not enough practical information, April 28, 2004

By 

Karen C. Geiger (Oakland, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Edible Container Garden: Growing Fresh Food in Small Spaces (Paperback)

As a beginning gardener, I was looking for a book that would spell out, in a simple, organized fashion, exactly what I needed to do to start a vegetable garden on my rooftop patio. So, I went on Amazon and purchased this book, as well as "McGee & Stuckey's Bountiful Container: A Container Garden of Vegetables, Herbs, Fruits, and Edible Flowers". Having read both, I would strongly recommend "Bountiful Container" over "Edible Container". "Edible Container" may seem more appealing because it is full of color photographs, but "Bountiful Container" is far more practical and a true reference book. "Edible Container" is largely anecdotal and may inspire you, but is frustrating if you're looking to have basic questions answered such as "what dirt should I use", "how often should I water", "what varieties should I plant and when", "should I use fertilizer", etc. "Bountiful Container" is so well-organized and clearly and concisely written that you can literally read it cover to cover (I did) and then you will find yourself coming back to it time and time again as your garden begins to grow. Swearing by the "Bountiful Container", I now how a flourishing garden full of lettuce, beans, squash, tomatoes, and strawberries.

41 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not all containers, June 18, 2001

By 

Brenda Wallace (Upper Hutt, Wellington New Zealand) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Edible Container Garden: Growing Fresh Food in Small Spaces (Paperback)

This book has less to do with containers, and more about gardening in small spaces. Infact many of the examples are of small plots of land. If you don't have any land then much of this book is useless to you (but interesting none the less).

Otherwise a good book - very readable and full of practical information.

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Planting in tight places....., April 12, 2003

By 

Dianne Foster "Di" (USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Edible Container Garden: Growing Fresh Food in Small Spaces (Paperback)

Michael Guerra's EDIBLE CONTAINER GARDEN - "Growing Fresh Food in Small Spaces" is filled with unique insights and original photographs. Although I don't own a spread exactly like the gorgeous places shown on several pages in this book, I am moving in that direction, so the composition of the beautiful and practical gardens of others is of interest to me. Each garden depicted in this book can be decomposed into elements that can be transported to almost any location and arranged in almost any way.

A fact of life in an urban area is compacted soil. The typical urban homesteader is unlikely to own a rototiller that can be used to plow the yard and create a friendly habitat for a few fennel plants (although these tools are becoming smaller every day). Guerra's photographs and text describe projects that finesse hard surfaces. I especially like the partitioned timber container filled with many herbs standing above a graveled path. He also shows a raised bed with a most interesting set of joined corners using eyelet screws. The hardest surface of all to "farm" is a rooftop, but several photos show just what can be done with containers on top of a building. The corn and beans growing at the edge of one roof with a street full of cars below make me wonder how any insects could ever find and destroy this produce.

Guerra suggests gardeners can recycle materials and employ permaculture principles in urban settings. One permaculture trick involves stacking and arranging plants in a canopied effect. Guerra includes a number of photos showing various structures one might build to grow plants vertically thereby maximizing the use of space while conserving water. At the back of his book he includes photos of his own urban lot where he uses every square inch above and below to grow food-bearing as well as flowering plants.

Guerra's book is a great place to start if you've been thinking about creating your own little Victory Garden and wondered what might be possible. You will need more information than this book provides, since he does not include much about plants so check out KITCHEN GARDENS IN CONTAINERS by Antony Atha.