Small Garden Handbook

by Andrew Wilson

At head of title: Royal Horticultural Society.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Horticulture

224 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 2013

Reviews

[Ligaya · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a decent book if your idea of a small garden is actually big and the garden's emphasis is on architecture and hardscape. Lots of that here. Beautiful photography and lots of small sidebars to keep those of us with limited attention spans moving through the pages. (Apparently, that was me with this book.) This book is UK centric so I had to decode many references and plant names. This book didn't help me much but it was interesting to see all the beautiful gardens.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of good info, interesting, easy to read, would be really good if you want to fully redesign your space (or start from scratch). It definitely helped me identify garden styles and features I like and don't like. But if you are looking for planting ideas there's not much here, I recommend Alan Titchmarsh's How to Garden: Small Gardens instead.

[Juli Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A solid overview.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots to read about in this book.

[Julio R. Ra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good but did not learn much

[Tilden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good ideas, useful information that isn't too technical, lots of photos for examples.

[Ian · Rating 2 out of 5]

In common with many "small garden" books, this book does not really help those with tiny gardens like mine. It's not a bad book if you have a decent plot to work on book offers little to help me.

[Alger Smythe-Hopkins · Rating 2 out of 5]

Again, a "small garden" book written by someone who thinks a small garden is something the size of my house. The exceptions are the rooftop and courtyard gardens, but those designs and ideas are not useful because they are toy gardens; potted plants and fragile tropical varieties. Other objections to the designs ideas here are that there is a strong emphasis on hardscaping, paving patterns, and wall types. I don't need this.

Who would this work for? If you are someone who wants to create an architectural garden retreat in a larger garden space, or someone wanting a high-end, high maintenance surfaced garden courtyard, this book would work. Otherwise, all of these solutions are far too expensive and really not to my taste anyway.

[Rhonda · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay. It did not provide the information I was hoping for in regards to small gardens (more design and more focus on vegetable gardening), but the information was thorough and the photos were good.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good for design ideas, but not quite what I was looking for.