Grow Your Own: Crops in Pots- with 30 step-by-step projects using vegetables, fruit and herbs

by Royal Horticultural Society, Kay Maguire (Compiler)

Winner of the Practical Book of the Year 2013 at the Garden Media Guild Awards.

RHS Grow Your Own Crops in Pots is the natural successor to Carol Klein's bestselling RHS Grow your own Veg, which has sold more than 300,000 copies since publication. With this book you can turn the tiniest space into a productive and attractive plot, using the best varieties and techniques. Follow 30 tried-and-tested container recipes for top tasting crop combinations such as tomato with basil, fruit salads and cut-and-come-again vegetables. Discover the essential techniques that every container-gardener should know and use the crop directory to find out the best way to grow more than 60 vegetables, fruit, salads, herbs and edible flowers.

Genres: Gardening, Nonfiction, Reference, Horticulture, Plants, Food

472 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 1, 2013

About the author

The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, gained its present name in a Royal Charter granted in 1861. The Royal Horticultural Society is one of the world’s leading horticultural organizations and the UK's leading gardening charity dedicated to advancing horticulture and promoting gardening.

Vital to the protection of plants, gardens and green spaces for future generations, the RHS helps over two million school children get into gardening and supports more than 1,700 communities to create their own gardens, encouraging people to grow their own food.

The charity also promotes horticulture through world-renowned flowers shows such as the Chelsea Flower Show, the Hampton Court Palace Flower Show, the Tatton Park Flower Show and the Cardiff Flower Show. These shows exhibit the best in horticulture by providing show gardens, floral marques and expert advice.

In 2004 the society celebrated its bicentenary reflecting all the achievements of the RHS to date.

Reviews

[Annette McIntyre · Rating 3 out of 5]

So you have no space for a garden? Think again. The Royal Horticultural Society shows you how you can have a garden if you have little space, or only a concreted yard.

[Poemi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sehr vielfältig. mit kurzen und doch ausführlichen Erklärungen.

[Emmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

In general very good information. Excellent use of pictures gives the book a nice look and feel. If you were to look for a specific plant, the contents page gives a pretty good idea on where to find it. I didn't read through it all, because I frankly don't have the room for every kind of plant I would want to try.

I would've liked to know a bit more particularly about the flowers. Such as what their uses are or what they're good for. A lot of them are described as having a peppery taste or a very basic description, like Lavender being "soothing and relaxing". Then again most people would plant flowers for aesthetic reasons (myself included), but having taken an interest in the health benefits in herbs and flowers, I was a bit let down.

It may also be worth pointing out that sometimes the author says that something should be planted in late winter-early spring, but that the heat or sunshine the plant prefers is 20-25 degrees Celsius. That might not be difficult in some places, but that'd be pretty impossible in Finland, unless you used artificial lights.

[Jon]

There was a time when the title of this book might have had an entirely different connotation in my life, but in my middle-aged state, we're simply talking about fresh vegetables, folks, so don't get your hopes up.

For very nearly as long as I can remember, I've been a fan of fresh vegetables from the garden, especially tomatoes, and since my wife and I bought our first house, we've always had a garden spot. I decided that this year I wanted to try growing some tomatoes in large pots along a sunny fence in our back yard, so I picked up Kay Maguire's book to make sure I'm doing things correctly.

Some good tomato growing tips:
Pollenate tomatoes by misting the flowers or shaking them to help set fruit
Companion plants for tomatoes are marigolds, borage and basil
Trim the plants down to one main stem until five "trusses" develop, then pinch back tops
Feed weekly with 5-5-10
This book has great illustrations of space-saving projects, with step by step instructions, and everything is esthetically pleasing as well as allegedly productive. One downside, however, is that Maguire doesn't do a very good job of defining terms for the non-professional gardener. Perhaps she's written a basic gardening book, and assumes we all will have read it prior to reading this one.

Some of instructions also seem contradictory. For example, in order to keep plants in pots more humid and reduce watering needs, she suggests clustering them all together in groups in a convenient spot. But to avoid garden pests, like bugs, from spreading from one plant to another, she tells us to keep space between them. Sounds more like an art form than a science, which I suppose is to be expected.

For those who are interested, there was a fairly large section on how to grow fruit trees, including citrus, in pots, which could come in handy in colder climates, where you could take the plants inside during the winter months, and back outdoors when the summer sun reappears.

I liked the projects where she grows sweet potatoes in those cloth grocery bags, cilantro in an old colander (drat, I threw mine away), and rows of lettuce in crates. Lots of great ideas here.

[Lynn Mills]

My husband built me a herb box after I admired his sister's. This book was brilliant for advice about setting it up, selecting the right herbs and their care.
It has much more information about all sorts of plant that can be grown in pots but the care instructions can help with those planted in the garden.
Brilliant book of advice.

[Cassia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book

This is a great book, very informative with practical tips and examples with lovely pictures. This book has a great layout too and it is very well written with all the sections and way it was organised. I’m happy to have bought it and read it and definitely recommend it.

[Piruvi · Rating 5 out of 5]

very helpful!

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some great ideas, however the kindle version is challenging to read and hard to keep up with the references.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent guide for growing nearly anything in pots.

[Paul Pryce · Rating 3 out of 5]

Still on the reference shelf :-)

[Anca · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this book; it's about growing food in containers, and it makes me feel like no matter what is going on in my life, there's no excuse for me not to TRY to grow something. It has all the typical information that gardening books seem to have but it's targeted towards containers and food, which is not something I've found as commonly in other books.

I could totally use this on my shelf as a reference.

[Lablover · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great book! It gives basic needs of plants as well as expert tips! Information was broken down well. It had essential growing techniques as well as harvesting and storage tips. The containers used were not expensive. They were what most gardeners have; plastic pots, terracotta, even bags. I read another book on growing in pots and all the container were very expensive.

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is good information as far as pot sizes and growing medium is concerned. It has straightforward information about the best way to care for potted veg and fruit.
However, in my opinion, she is overly optimistic about the real amount of sunlight that comes into peoples' houses.

[Cecilia]

great

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book to get an idea of what size pots different plants need to thrive. It is perfect for that.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful reference book for container gardening. Full of tips, techniques, problem solving, harvesting and storage information, and varieties to grow.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book with helpful tips on gardening in small places!

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very accessible, practical information for starting/continuing your adventures in container gardening.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Will be a good resource book when planting, growing and harvesting.

[Rodrigo · Rating 4 out of 5]

O melhor do livro são as dicas para fazer cultivos conjuntos.

[Alison Fiona Mckay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has totally inspired me to do something with my garden space when I finally move house! 4stars because of some technical jargon that could have been explained a little more

[Sophie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely pictures and advice.

[Sam Shingleton · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good book to understand possibilities for a patio garden.

[scc101]

The book is very well organized in terms of giving you information about specific types of plants to grow. There are lots of photographs as well, which are quite helpful as well as beautiful.