The Container Victory Garden: A Beginner's Guide to Growing Your Own Groceries

by Maggie Stuckey

Overview

Even if all you have is a postage stamp's worth of space on a balcony, patio, or front stoop, The Container Victory Garden equips you to dig into the joys of container gardening, right where you are.

Imagine this: In the morning, you pluck a few mint leaves from your backdoor herb garden and add them to your tea. A few hours later, you step out onto your patio and collect a handful of lettuce leaves for your lunch salad. Just before dinner, you harvest a few basil leaves and cherry tomatoes for a delicious caprese pasta.

In her trademark warm and informative style, bestselling author and expert gardener Maggie Stuckey shares everything you need to know to succeed with container gardening: planning, gearing up, planting, nurturing, and harvesting.

In The Container Victory Garden, you will find:

• detailed line art drawings that illustrate many gardening techniques and set-ups
• first-person stories of World War II Victory Gardens and their inspiration for today's gardeners
• beautiful full-color paintings of diverse people enjoying their container gardens

This is the promise of container gardening: a fresh bounty of vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers you can enjoy in every season.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780785255765
Publisher:	Harper Celebrate
Publication date:	02/21/2023
Pages:	272
Sales rank:	116,237
Product dimensions:	6.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Maggie Stuckey is a gardener who cooks, a cook who gardens, and a writer happily immersed in both arenas, as the titles of her books suggest: Gardening from the Ground Up, Soup Night, Country Tea Parties, The Complete Spice Book, The Complete Herb Book, The Houseplant Encyclopedia, and five others. She divides her time between Portland, Oregon, and the tiny coastal town of Ocean Park, Washington.

Editorial Reviews

12/19/2022

Gardener Stuckey (Soup Night) delivers a simple manual on how to grow plants in containers. “Gardening is hope made real,” she contends, and offers guidance on how those short on outdoor space can develop their green thumb using pots and other receptacles. She explains factors to consider when planning, including how much sunlight the plants will require, which are best suited to one’s region, and which thrive during which seasons. Stuckey recommends readers acquire a trowel, cultivator, hand pruner, watering can, and gloves to get started, and she provides a rundown of the pros and cons of various container types (ceramics are “elegant” but break easily, while plastic planters are durable but “not especially handsome”). Step-by-step guidance describes how to plant seeds and nurture their growth, offering such useful suggestions as thinning out seedlings that have sprouted too closely together and transferring newly purchased plants into a watery fertilizer solution before placing them in their final container, so as to loosen up their roots. Ideas on how to make the most of limited space include stacking plants on a baker’s rack or fashioning a makeshift trellis out of fishing line. The thorough, no-fuss advice for growing vegetables, herbs, and flowers will get beginners started in no time. Urban gardeners will appreciate the recommendations on making the most out of limited space. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

'[S]weetly nostalgic and immensely practical. This entry-level book is sure to become a favorite resource, and whether they're drawn to the warmth of the narrative or Stuckey's encouraging tone, its readers will be anxious to try their hands at gardening this spring.'

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