The Compact Garden: A Beginner's Guide to Growing Vegetables in Small Spaces

by Marv Lopez, Char Lopez

You don’t need a lot of land to create a beautiful, bountiful garden.

Char and Marv of Planted in the Garden are urban gardeners from Toronto who fell in love with growing food, not only for the fresh homegrown vegetables, but to show that small spaces can still produce big harvests. In their debut gardening book, you’ll find instructions

Creating a small-space Learn how to set up raised beds, containers, and vertical gardens to maximize growing space both indoors and outdoors. Growing beginner-friendly Discover which crops are easy to grow and low maintenance, including tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuces, beans, peas, and more. Planning out your growing Maximize your harvest by planting seeds at the optimal time for your garden’s climate zone. Harvesting organic produce at Manage pests and fertilize plants without the use of synthetic chemicals. Adding flowers and herbs to your Decide which varieties to plant based on what will flourish in your space and attract pollinators for your vegetables.
With step-by-step instructions, you will be able to plan, plant, and maintain an abundant garden that not only provides you with fresh, healthy produce, but also adds beauty to your outdoor space, no matter how big or how small. Happy gardening!

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Reference, Plants

251 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 14, 2026

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful photos.

Text geared for complete novices.

[Laura Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The images in this book are visually stunning and the flow is very personable and upbeat. I felt like I was having a conversation with the authors, but that could be partly because I've been following them on YouTube for a few years. The book combines the authors' story of how they got into gardening with practical advise and DIY projects. There is a vast variety of information in the book, but it was a little surface level. The DIY projects were easy to follow with written instructions alongside photos and there were suggestions throughout the book based on more economical or expensive approaches, so any income level can benefit from the advice. I enjoyed the section on the vegetable profiles, especially as it listed recommended amendments, container sizes, and helpful growing information. If I purchased this book to actually study and learn about gardening in depth, I may have been a bit disappointed, but as a beginner's introduction and to support the author's I am happy with it. I would have enjoyed a bit more information about their hydroponics systems and indoor grow tent for indoor growing. I admit to being so jealous of their garden and set ups!

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great beginner's book for people who have a black thumb or get overwhelmed by all the info found in other tomes. The information is simplified and presented with a warm tone that made me feel better about all my gardening failures. It helped me see exactly what I was doing wrong so I could fix it. You can see the results in my garden. There is the section I planted before I read the book and the section I planted after I started reading the book, and it looks like it was planted by two different people. If they wrote a guide for the intermediate gardener, I would buy it at once.

[Winter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book! The imagery and personality were very nice, and the information is useful! I really liked the information about diseases, pests, hardiness zones, and planting schedules. Im also excited to try some of the building projects. The best part is of course that it focuses on small-spaces/container gardening. I appreciated the guidance on what size containers are needed for which plants, as well as the information about companion planting. ♡

[Mandi Pausley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredibly helpful and beautiful book. The pictures, ideas and overview of all the garden how to’s was so refreshing. They make you feel like you can grow anything! I especially enjoyed the ideas on container and small space gardening, using vertical growing tips to use up wasted space. I learned many new things about gardening and look forward to implementing them in the future.

[Cagri Yahya · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect beginners guide. Exactly what I needed to help me start. My only qualm is that planting schedules are according to America’s climate. Will need to make sure of the seasons when following advice in Australia

[Mary Ann]

This is a beautiful book. The scope of information is astonishing, whether you want one tomato plant in a container, or a massive home garden with every kind of growing style. It was a a library loan, and I had no hope of finishing it all.

[Ali G · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved learning the basics for growing plants. A bit of everything from creating wood structures to pest protection and 101 basics for popular plants. I do needed a larger section for 101 plants basics.

[Will · Rating 5 out of 5]

Handy, useful and charming. Everything a gardening companion book should be!

[Nick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice quick intro to gardening, but not much depth. It tries to double as a reference book and comes up short.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book with so much information! I'm curious how much money they spend on gardening supplies, though, and if their harvest helps to recover some of the investment. Excellent photographs, too!

[Christine Barth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very practical tips

[Kenzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great for new gardeners

[Hope Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

My library added this JUST as I was searching for gardening books with insight on more comapct gardening! My librarians are clairvoyant and amazing

[Cindy Weaver]

Informative and great ideas for small gardens with big production.