Small Garden Handbook: Making the most of your outdoor space

by Andrew Wilson (Compiler), Royal Horticultural Society

'RHS Small Garden Handbook...show[s] the process of planning, planting and maintaining an outdoor space that will lift your heart every time you step outside.' - The Independent

'Clear and practical principles of design' - BBC Gardens Illustrated

A garden offers invaluable space for relaxing entertaining, and, above all, enjoying the huge pleasure of growing your own flowers, shrubs, trees, and crops. However, a small garden can present challenges to even the most experience gardener: it may be overlooked, which can impact upon your privacy; there may be more shade than you would like; and it may not be immediately obvious how to create a space that is both multifunctional and beautiful.

RHS Small Garden Handbook provides an all-in-one guide for small space gardeners and draws on the experience in growing, planting, landscaping and design for which the RHS is world famous. It begins by explaining how to assess your plot so that you are aware of the soil, orientation, microclimate, existing materials and proportions that you have to work with, before revealing the principles of good design. Showing how your decisions on layout, colour and texture will affect the finished design and what tricks can be played to create a greater sense of space - with everything from expert design advice on boundaries, hedges and fences to clever ideas for containers and storage - every gardener will gain confidence in creating a garden to enjoy no matter how big the plot. Each of the nine chapters includes 15 ways to make instant improvements and a real-life case study to inspire change. All the gardens featured in the book's 300 photographs are accessible, achievable and truly inspirational.

Contents Includes...

Basics
Design Styles
Materials
Boundaries
Structures
Water
Planting
Upkeep

... and much much more!

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Horticulture

547 pages, Kindle Edition

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.