Garden Book Club

I have six raised beds in my backyard for vegetables, a raised terrace along one side of the yard for berries and a few perennial vegetables, and a border bed lining two other fence lines. Most people would find that plenty of space for a home garden, but it sure isn't for us. More garden beds aren't the answer, since we still need a bit of grass for the dog and the boys to run around it.

I used to garden in containers back when we rented. I still use containers for a few of my tender plants that require overwintering indoors, like my pretty ginger that gives us tasty roots for ginger ale and stir-fries. We also have six hanging baskets adorning our patio columns that spill over with strawberries in the summer, at least until I figure out where we can stick a strawberry patch!

Perusing “The Complete Guide to Container Gardening” (2009) is giving me a few new ideas. The pictures are gorgeous, just like you would expect from a Better Homes and Gardens publication. Over 500 inspiration pictures are inside, to be exact.

Unfortunately, there isn't much substance to the book. The images did give me some ideas on how to fit even more plants into my crowded garden, but it was a far cry from a “complete” book about anything. It features plans, which they call recipes, consisting of different kinds of plants crammed into pots. If you want to follow their planting plans to a tee you likely won't go wrong, but it doesn't educate in my opinion. A complete book is likely to be grabbed by beginners. Novice gardeners should be rewarded with a in depth book about both the plants and culture necessary for a container garden.

The climates aren't as clear cut on the western side of the country. Once you cross the Rocky Mountains, the country becomes a mottled collection of microclimates that can vary greatly within just a few miles. I live in USDA zone 5, but my home sits on hill over a river valley and the climate is closer to a zone 6 most years. My old home, five short miles away, was a definite zone 4 and experienced frost a full four weeks longer than at my current home.

The “New Western Garden Book” by the editors at Sunset Magazine tackles the issues that plague western gardeners, from our much more changeable climate to the plants that thrive here. Much of the west suffers from drought issues, so we can't always grow the same plants or grow them in the same manner as those who share our zone on the east coast.

The new edition features 500 more plants than previous versions, giving us more information and greater choice when planting our gardens. It includes trees and shrubs, foliage plants, flowers, vegetables, and even herbs.

The plant encyclopedia within lists 8,000 plants and their care requirements, including which of the “Sunset Zones” they thrive in. Sunset zones differ from USDA zones, and our only applicable in the west. In our region. For example, both Seattle and parts of Arizona are a zone 8, but growing conditions vary drastically in the two places. The Sunset Garden Book and Sunset zones provide a more in depth analysis of these differences and provide a more suitable guide for planting.

It's no secret that I practice sustainable gardening methods and that my family and I are working toward becoming self sufficient on an urban lot. In my constant quest for information and new ideas, I came across a new book on sustainable home gardening. Intrigued, I brought it home.

In “Tomorrow's Garden: Design and Inspiration for a New Age of Sustainable Gardening” (2011), author Stephen Orr strives to show readers how they can turn a garden large or small into a self sustaining environment. He primarily focuses on garden design, but does throw in some information on city chickens and livestock.

I'm a bit torn on this book. It provides some solid information, but much of it is simplified. Overall, the writing is an excellent introduction to someone new to the theories and methods of sustainable gardening, but provides minimal value to those with some experience.

The photographs are another story. While they only meet the standard in garden photography quality, they do provide a multitude of ideas and inspiration pieces for creating your own sustainable garden paradise. I personally loved just flipping through the book and examining the images. This in part could be because the small typeface used throughout was a bit difficult to read.

Overall, I recommend this book as a good intro to sustainable garden practices. If you would like some inspiration pictures, it may be worth picking up as well. But really, there are better books out there for those of us pursuing this gardening method.