I've given a brief review for each of the books that I have read. I'll post reviews for the others as time permits. If you would like to suggest other books and/or to submit a brief (two to four sentence) review of any of these books for inclusion on this page, please send them to pat@containerseeds.com. If you submit a review, please let me know if you want to be credited for it by name or just as "a reader." I am especially interested in recommendations for books on indoor container gardening and on growing and using culinary herbs.

The books are listed alphabetically by title. You can browse through the entire list by clicking here and then scrolling down, or you can go directly to a specific book by clicking the appropriate link in the list immediately below:

• Creating and Planting Garden Troughs, Joyce Fingerut
  
• The Edible Container Garden : Growing Fresh Food in Small Spaces, Michael Guerra
  
• How to Grow Organic Vegetables in Containers (...Anywhere!): What You Can Grow, Where You Can Grow, How You Set Up, Everything You'll Need, Eileen Logan
  
• Japanese Art of Miniature Trees and Landscapes, Yuji Yosimura and Giovanna M. Halfords
  
• Kitchen Gardens in Containers, Anthony Atha
  
• Miniatures and Bonsai (The Time-Life Encyclopedia of Gardening), Philip Perl
  
• Movable Harvests: The Simplicity and Bounty of Container Gardens, Chuck Crandall
  
• Rodale's Encyclopedia of Indoor Gardening, Anne Halpin (ed.)
  

Creating and Planting Garden Troughs, Joyce Fingerut and Rex Murfitt
Many color photos showing beautiful trough gardens - miniature landscapes, if you will. I cannot look at these without being stricken by a passionate desire to not only own several, but to make them myself. (I'm immune to diamonds and pearls: but oh, my, I do want trough gardens.) Explains - in great detail - how to make hypertufa troughs, with photographs, and giving various alternative construction methods and techniques. I've made troughs in the past, but did not (until reading this book) know of certain techniques and materials that will make the job a lot easier. Making hypertufa troughs and other containers, by the way, is dirt cheap and well within the capabilities of most people. The second part of the book is a discussion of many alpine plants used to create miniature landscapes in the troughs. Also discusses some succulents and trees and shrubs that can be used for this purpose. Gives cultural information for each plant discussed. This is my kind of gardening book: no 'fluff', all solid and useful information. If you are at all interested in trough gardens - or even in just making hypertufa pots in which to grow annual flowers or vegetables - I'm sure you will benefit by reading Creating and Planting Garden Troughs. And even if you're not interested, you may well be after reading it. It's very unusual for the average person to be able to create a work of art. Most of us cannot write a symphony or paint a masterpiece or dance a ballet, but we gardeners can create works of art with troughs and plants if we wish.

The Edible Container Garden : Growing Fresh Food in Small Spaces, Michael Guerra
This book was disappointing to me. I read it a while ago, and have just have read it again to confirm my initial impression (and re-reading it unfortunately did confirm my previous impression of the book). It tells you, over and over, that you can have beautiful edible container gardens but it never actually tells you how to do it. To me, the book seems disorganized and scarce on solid, usable information. There are many lovely color photos, which is a plus. Reviewers on Amazon.com seem to think very well of the book - so maybe it's me, maybe I'm just incompatible with the author's style. If you have read this book, I'd be especially interested in hearing your opinion of it.

How to Grow Organic Vegetables in Containers (...Anywhere!): What You Can Grow, Where You Can Grow, How You Set Up, Everything You'll Need, Eileen Logan

Japanese Art of Miniature Trees and Landscapes, Yuji Yosimura and Giovanna M. Halfords
Clear, practical description of how to create and grow bonsai and miniature landscapes. Many black and white photos, some color photos. This is an older book, as you can see if you follow the link, but valuable nevertheless. One of the reviewers on Amazon says "This book, beyond a doubt, has all of the information the serious bonsai artist needs to know," and I tend to agree. I've owned this book for many years, and following its directions I have successfully created and maintained several bonsai. The same reviewer goes on to describe the book as "intimidating to the beginner" and I suppose it might be, although I did not find it to be so.

Kitchen Gardens in Containers, Anthony Atha

Miniatures and Bonsai (The Time-Life Encyclopedia of Gardening), Philip Perl
Includes information on miniature roses, other miniature indoor plants and creating vistas using them, outdoor mini-landscapes (trough gardens, rock gardens, alpine gardens, mini-gardens in general), and bonsai, illustrated by abundant color photos. Gives descriptions for making trough garden containers and other containers of hyper-tufa, with photos. (By the way, the directions work - I have done this.) Also has an Illustrated Encyclopedia of Miniatures containing growing information on 95 plants that are genetically dwarfed or naturally very small, describing their uses and culture, and with a color drawing of each plant.

Movable Harvests: The Simplicity and Bounty of Container Gardens, Chuck Crandall
I recommend this book, with reservations. It has a lot of useful information on choosing containers, and potting plants. It also has information on growing various vegetables. The section on pests and diseases, and natural remedies for them, is especially complete and good. Container gardeners are unlikely to ever encounter many of the pests and diseases described, but I think it's useful to have the descriptions and pictures, just in case. I disagree with their recommendations for growing media and find them unnecessarily complex. I also disagree strongly with most of their recommendations for varieties of plants suitable for container growing. I consider them outdated, unimaginative and - in many cases - just plain unsuitable for container growing. In spite of my disagreement with the variety and growing media recommendations, this is my second choice for a book specifically about edible container gardening, but it's a long, long ways behind my first choice, Bountiful Countainer.

Rodale's Encyclopedia of Indoor Gardening, Anne Halpin (ed.)
A big book and a very useful one. Chapters on Understanding Plant Growth, Tools and Techniques for Indoor Gardening, Growing Different Kinds of Plants, Special Environments and How to Use Them, followed by A House Plant Encyclopedia which has growing information for 252 plants, with a color photograph of each one. I've referred to this book often. It's certainly an older book by now, but the information is still as valid and useful as when the book was published.