De creatieve tuinier: een (h)eerlijke tuin voor elk budget

by Alys Fowler, S. Wheeler (Illustrator), H. van Dijk (Translator)

Forget makeover culture, forget the garden centre and all your gardening preconceptions, this is a witty, wise and practical take on how to create a stylish garden. The Thrifty Gardener is about creating the garden of your dreams, regardless of resources or limited space. It will eliminate the intimidation factor and reveal the ins-and-outs of soil, seeds, sowing and growing. At the heart of this book is a DIY ethic that says you don't always have to buy what you need – you can make it, take it or swap it with friends. From creating window boxes out of champagne cases to creating your own elegant compost bin, from bulking up perennials to finding plants for free, this book is packed with offbeat projects for a new generation of gardeners.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Food

192 pages, Paperback

First published September 25, 2008

About the author

Alys Fowler trained at the Horticultural Society, the New York Botanical Garden and the Royal Botanic Garden at Kew. After finishing her training, she worked as a journalist for the trade magazine, Horticulture Week, and then joined the Gardeners' World team as a horticultural researcher.
Alys is a gardener who loves food. She has an allotment and an urban back garden with two chickens, lots of flowers and plenty of vegetables. Her inspiration for urban gardening comes from her time volunteering in a community garden on the Lower East side in Manhattan, New York City. Much of the ethic, thrift and spirit she encountered there is found in her work today. She is author of several books and writes a weekly column on gardening for the Guardian.

Reviews

[Alwynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved Alys Fowler’s coming-out memoir Hidden Nature but this is the first of her gardening manuals I’ve tried. It’s wonderfully direct and lucid, the emphasis on stylish in the title was a bit off-putting but this is not about manicured lawns and designer accessories, it's a very down-to-earth manual for producing the kind of garden that fits with Fowler’s bohemian, forager persona. So it's tightly focused on working with a budget and making good use of everyday or found objects: from collecting wine crates to repurpose as planters, to how to build up your own seed stores, to making nettle tea to enrich your soil, avoiding chemical nasties, and creating different types of compost. There’s even a method for making common garden snails edible – not that I’m planning to do that. And there’s a mass of practical information from how to stop mosquito larvae developing in a water butt to nurturing seedlings, companion planting, and the types of vegetables and flowers that are easy to cultivate and help transform ordinary, outside spaces into riotously-colourful, wildlife havens. Beautifully illustrated, I think this is a great resource for novice gardeners but there’s also a wealth of inventive tips and useful reminders for the more experienced.

[Meconopsis Lingholm · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is MUCH better than the title or dust jacket indicate. I wish I'd read it first when I very first started planting things. author is a bit opinionated (cf page 27 re: hyacinths: "cheap mixed pack are for the brave as you'll get lots of very garish pinks and purples as well as blues. more restrained gardeners should only go for white or blue cultivars" well! I prefer t&m's black cultivar, where does that put me on the brave/restraint chart??) but otherwise the photography is excellent and written well enough that again I wish it had been the first I'd read, which is the best I can really say for any nonfiction book.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book up in a bargain bookstore and have been really pleased with my thrifty purchase. In some ways the book covers rather a mish mash of topics but it's all useful stuff. As a gardening novice I've found the photo-filled section on pruning and propogating very useful. There's a good amount in here about growing edibles which is my gardening priority and the fun 'grocery-store gardening' covers ingenious ways to convert your dinner into foliage (for example planting chickpeas).

While the emphasis is on thrifty the photos and book itself are also stylish (in a thrift-store kinda way).

I'm off now to cadge some wine crates to plant my winter salad in

[Chris S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Purchased purely because I thought the woman on the cover looked attractive. Reading the book I realised I knew absolutely nothing about gardening. Now I know a lot. (By the way, the woman on the front cover is the author - Alys Fowler - and yes, she's hot!).

[Joel LeBlanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Best "how-to" garden book I have ever found.

[Alex Furst · Rating 4 out of 5]

Book #7 of 2023. "The Thrifty Gardener" by Alys Fowler. 4/5 rating.

This book is the perfect compendium to my Master Gardeners class I'm taking right now!

Alys does a great job of bringing together general garden knowledge, specific advice, and ways to reuse and rejuvenate old materials to make your own fun, eclectic garden. I found myself writing down a bunch of the useful advice for what best to grow on decks or in containers, good ways to grow plants from seed, and some ideas for how to battle pests and disease.

Possibly as useful as the whole rest of the book combined, Alys includes a small directory of some of the most popular garden plants, herbs, and easy flowers to get started. Within here, it has some information about the different plants, some good cultivars, and just a quick overview of each.

I have included some of her advice below that I found especially enlightening...or made me laugh:
- "Gardening is something you do, not something you buy."
- "You can break down people who love houseplants into over-indulgers and under-indulgers."
- "All soil can be transformed into a healthy growing medium, and it does not have to be done all at once."
- - "If the conditions are right - correct temperature, light and good compost - you don't need to water your seed trays until the first seedling leaves appear."
- "Eat your weeds. Yes, I ate my weeds – chickweed and dandelion salad. The good things about many weeds is they grow in winter. So one way to look at them is as a source of winter greens."
- "Organic methods rely on good husbandry, prevention and healthy soil."

Overall, I think this is a great book for gardening newbies like myself!

[Ape · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good, non-intimidating and well written (not over wordy or trying to be too clever) book on gardening. Gardening for everyone, whether you live in a mansion with matching grounds, a flat with a sunny windowsill, a house with just a concrete yard out back - whatever your circumstances you can do something, and you don't have to spend a fortune. There are tips and projects in here for building your own planters, composters, wormeries, cold frames... and tips on watering, how to keep the biting flies out of your water butt (new tip for me!), and plenty of photos so you can see what to do. I've got building projects lined up for years to come now, ha ha. Really like this- will return for tips when needed.

[ASMR Cortercat · Rating 3 out of 5]

it is a solid book on city gardening. I got it in german as the english version was not to be found. it covers a lot of basic ground for most ppl gardning will be a balcony or actual city garden scenario and for that it is great. what it is not is "homestead" or "self reliance instruction.. tho obviously it could be useful even if those situations.

[joanne jasper · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very practical approach to gardening for those who want both a beautiful and productive garden and aren't sure where to start. Particularly useful for people with modest urban gardens.

[Skyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for beginning gardeners and also has some excellent tips that were new to me after many years of gardening obsession.

[Zoe East · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some really useful tips for both outdoor and indoor plants and great ideas for starting out.

[Charlotte · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely book with a good balance of the romantic and practical. Has made me excited to really get my garden into shape for next year and has given me some top tips as well.

[Ian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent reference and will return to it

[Laleh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm admittedly in the middle of a gardening book feeding frenzy (my husband thinks it's an addiction) and this was a really refreshing read. There's nothing wrong with the older, traditional gardening tomes (I treasure those too) but I can't deny that it was good to hear a fresher tone and a more direct approach.
There's no showing off or blinding with horticultural science here - not to say the latter is lacking, only that Alys Fowler obviously doesn't feel the need to prove anything. There's also the bonus of updated techniques and developments in gardening, plant varieties and so on.
The subtitle 'How to create a stylish garden for next to nothing' is a total misnomer and misleading of the publisher - it's absolutely not about planning or designing your space. Once you rid yourself of this notion, you're all set and can fully enjoy the book's riches. It's more about maximising a garden's opportunities and sharing wisdom on how to do it less expensively.
Alys shares heaps of her ideas in an accessible, enthusiastic way - as if she were walking you round your garden and revealing its possibilities to you. The snobby assumptions of so many gardening books is thankfully absent (limitless funds and estate-like grounds) and the advice applies whether to a rambling rural space or an urban balcony.
I imagine even a long achieving gardener with an open mind could find some gems and nuggets in here.

[Tracey King · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an entreating book that explores a cheep way of maintaining your garden. I have learnt a lot about keeping my composter healthy and more affective. This book has also helped me feed my wormery. which is great fun to have in the garden for children but if you are screamish about worms and goo it is not one for you.
I would recommend this book to anyone who is thinking of changing the way they garden. My garden is showing the benefits already.

[Margarethe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein schönes ein anderes Gartenbuch, mehr Gelassenheit, mehr Experimentierfreude. Der Leitsatz: Garten ist das was du daraus machst.
Die Bilder sind ansprechend und die Tipps sind gut - vielleicht nicht für den Gartenprofi aber für den Möchtegern-Balkongärtner und mehr.

[Dionne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Praktisch en handig boek

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun book - read the Swedish translation (what was in the library!) and would quite like to own it in English too !

[Amy Durrant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant and inspiring, I still dip back into it regularly for ideas and advice on my plants and garden.

[Marianne Hansen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love the concept of this book, but you have to live in a warm climate to really benefit from the tips and tricks it provides.

[Lucy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great insight into gardening for a beginner, I am looking forward to testing it out! Also love some of the upcycling and recycling ideas in this book!

[Jaq · Rating 3 out of 5]

Practical and informative. But not quite what I needed.....