It’s quite a coincidence — I just reviewed the same book on my own blog recently.

Moneyblogga - you can grow plants in good soil with containers. You can also roll them inside at night and back out during the day when your weather is too cold.

bakednudel - you can put up some shade on a side of your outdoor space to shelter plants to a certain extent, but you’re not going to get away from the need for water. However, a couple of containers won’t take much water.

And Kris - your writing is beautiful and funny. Thanks for contributing now and again

Here’s to a green, and yummy, summer

If you have put off starting an herb garden until now, believe me, it’s much easier than you think.

One of the neighbors in my area has converted an old decrepit wheelbarrow (yard sale find?) into a container garden. What a neat idea! When the plants are done, you can roll the whole thing over to the compost bin!

Last fall he had a pumpkin vine growing in it. The plant draped fetchingly over the sides of the wheelbarrow and you could see the bright orange gourds. Very pretty!

About moving large container plants from one microenvironment to another as the seasons change: I’ve put mine on those inexpensive wooden plant dollies that you can get at Home Depot–the ones made of a few slats attached to four casters. They don’t last forever, but they will hang in there for two or three years. They hold the plant pot up off pavement, forestalling stains, and they sure do make it easier to move the plant under shelter when need be.

You know, this might mean you’ve got enough knowledge and experience to write a good, well-sourced, introductory e-book on practical home gardening that falls between those extremes. You’re a fine writer, you have several great photos (vs. the hand-drawn illos in the book under review), and you have a live garden from which to take examples (and even more photos). I say “introductory” in lieu of another hook that might pull folks in; this moniker might be attractive to first timers, and going with an inexpensive e-book would make it less threatening than buying one of those massive plant-porn tomes with only about 10 useful pages for that person’s growing conditions. Plus, you could add a few recipes from your garden’s bounty.

Just my two cents; don’t mean to be telling anyone what they ought to do. But I recall a writing teacher once telling me that when some writers feel like they aren’t getting anything more from their reading material, it’s a sign they have a partly to fully formed idea waiting to take shape in words.

@bakednudel- i am also in that area. i have a SSE facing deck on the corner of the building, and a little lake out back. i am growing raspberries, garlic, peas, carrots, tomatoes and lettuce. i also have snapdragons because i think they’re pretty. so far they are all doing well, especially the peas. the lettuce is new to me, and i planted it to grow in the shade of the tomato plants. but i have tried the others in years past and they’ve been ok in the heat.

The problems I’ve had are from other organisms– I lost a few plants, mostly ornamental pots, to plant thieves last year; this year, I’m putting the big one further back and the little ones will be high up or tied down. I also had squirrels digging in the pots, which led to an interesting, “Hey, that’s not a tomato leaf! What– that is a walnut tree,” moment.

I live in North Carolina, have a deck that faces due south, gets sun all day all year, and is next to a paved parking area. We’ve been in an exceptional drought for almost 2 years–although the lessened the restrictions last week, so I can water with a hose. I’m pretty sure the temp frequently is over 100 degrees. And I hate cacti!

I was hoping to try a tomato plant and some green/red peppers in 5 gal buckets this year because I know they like the sun.

I’ll probably try this book for inspiration from the library, but if anybody has any suggestions about southern-heat-tolerant gardening I’d appreciate it!

PS - and the bugs! I’m always sad because the flowers look so nice when I buy them, but within a couple of weeks–it’s all over.

PPS - It’s on reserve for me at the library, looking forward to it! Thanks again for the rec.

I just planted some tomatoe seeds in small cups on my window sill. That’s the most I’ve done in 5 years of wanting to grow my own veggies . I have space for a garden but it just seemed very intimidating to me. I’m going out today to see if I can find this book because I’m eager to get started!

I’ll definitely recommend this to her!