What do you think?
Rate this book
From Container to Kitchen: Growing Fruits and Vegetables in Pots
Written for the novice home gardener as well as the seasoned pro, this fully illustrated, comprehensive guide to container gardening will show you how to save up to 70% on your produce bill―wherever you live!
- GenresGardeningFoodNonfiction
248 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2010
19 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
About the author
D.J. Herda
71 books2 followersThe author is a consummate award-winning professional with more than 40 years of experience in a wide range of media from books, newspapers, and magazines to television and DVD. Herda is a former book, magazine, newspaper, photo, and video editor and author of more than 80 books on a wide range of topics, both fiction and nonfiction. He has written several hundred thousand short pieces, including the second most widely syndicated newspaper column in history behind "Ask Ann Landers." He has also written several magazine columns, short stories, articles, and corporate and business features and profiles. He has had two stage plays produced.
A former ghostwriter for Sammy Davis Jr., Lawrence Welk, Art Linkletter, Ronnie Schell, top CEOs around the world, and others, he is president of the American Society of Authors and Writers and a past member of The Writer's Guild, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the Washington Press Club.
Herda has taught Creative Writing Workshop and several book editing courses at the college level in Chicago and frequently mentors working writers and professional acquisitions' editors on improving their skills.
A former ghostwriter for Sammy Davis Jr., Lawrence Welk, Art Linkletter, Ronnie Schell, top CEOs around the world, and others, he is president of the American Society of Authors and Writers and a past member of The Writer's Guild, the American Society of Journalists and Authors, and the Washington Press Club.
Herda has taught Creative Writing Workshop and several book editing courses at the college level in Chicago and frequently mentors working writers and professional acquisitions' editors on improving their skills.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
May 12, 2018
Noting the increasing acceptability of the idea of growing edible plants in containers, internationally renowned master grower D.J. Herda sets out, in From Container to Kitchen: Growing Fruits and Vegetables in Pots, to explore which fruits and vegetables grow best in pots, which varieties outperform their less robust cousins, how to plant and nurture your crops from planting to harvest, how to build your own best recipe for gardening success, and how best to get the message out to others: the time is right for organic gardening.
Arguing the health and cost-cutting benefits to be gained from growing one’s own crops, Herda stresses the timeliness of his book in terms of modern inventions, new discoveries about horticultural techniques, and new varieties of plants — both fruits and vegetables — which have opened up unforeseen vistas for the apartment-bound prospective grower. Herda revels in the delights of what you can do and grow with a minimum of knowledge and space, and a maximum of enjoyment.
The topics that Herda covers include: selecting the right container size and location; optimizing soil composition and nutrients; managing light, water and humidity; choosing the best fruits and vegetables for container gardening; eliminating pests and plant diseases naturally; and extending the harvest. For each recipe for success for the growing of 25 different types of fruits and vegetables (ranging from everyday, albeit unconventionally grown, tomatoes to the more exotic, though equally practicable, dwarf fig), Herda provides the following details: habit; cultivars; seed or transplants; pot size; water; comments; varieties; seeds; transplants; soil; insects; solutions; diseases; health benefits; ready for the kitchen; and annual savings. This 233-page guide is bountifully illustrated with both color and black-and-white photographs of the crops concerned, as well as of the containers in which you can grow them.
Herda’s style is humorous and highly accessible to the newcomer. Though he provides the scientific names for all the fruits and vegetables that he describes, he does not overwhelm one with a plethora of unnecessary and confusing detail. Above all, what Herda says makes a great deal of sense. For those who wish to read further in the field, he provides a list of websites and books, though the average home gardener, no matter whether novice or seasoned pro, will most likely find all that he or she needs in this informative and wise text.
Arguing the health and cost-cutting benefits to be gained from growing one’s own crops, Herda stresses the timeliness of his book in terms of modern inventions, new discoveries about horticultural techniques, and new varieties of plants — both fruits and vegetables — which have opened up unforeseen vistas for the apartment-bound prospective grower. Herda revels in the delights of what you can do and grow with a minimum of knowledge and space, and a maximum of enjoyment.
The topics that Herda covers include: selecting the right container size and location; optimizing soil composition and nutrients; managing light, water and humidity; choosing the best fruits and vegetables for container gardening; eliminating pests and plant diseases naturally; and extending the harvest. For each recipe for success for the growing of 25 different types of fruits and vegetables (ranging from everyday, albeit unconventionally grown, tomatoes to the more exotic, though equally practicable, dwarf fig), Herda provides the following details: habit; cultivars; seed or transplants; pot size; water; comments; varieties; seeds; transplants; soil; insects; solutions; diseases; health benefits; ready for the kitchen; and annual savings. This 233-page guide is bountifully illustrated with both color and black-and-white photographs of the crops concerned, as well as of the containers in which you can grow them.
Herda’s style is humorous and highly accessible to the newcomer. Though he provides the scientific names for all the fruits and vegetables that he describes, he does not overwhelm one with a plethora of unnecessary and confusing detail. Above all, what Herda says makes a great deal of sense. For those who wish to read further in the field, he provides a list of websites and books, though the average home gardener, no matter whether novice or seasoned pro, will most likely find all that he or she needs in this informative and wise text.
November 25, 2017
While I've found advice about container gardening to be pretty standard the non-plant asides and pop culture references in this book are really, really dated. On the whole the book tries to sway the reader into thinking container gardening is a good thing but I'd think most who pick up this book already think that anyway so a lot of effort and explanations this book went in to felt like banging your head against a wall.
May 16, 2017
The author's tone and tepid jokes overshadow the nearly scant quantity of useful content. Too much time spent worshipping planter pots. The most useful content here is exceedingly Googlable.
April 16, 2025
A good guide for beginners who want to start pot vegetable and fruit garden.
December 17, 2010
Noting the increasing acceptability of the idea of growing edible plants in containers, internationally renowned master grower D. J. Herda sets out in From Container to Kitchen: Growing Fruits and Vegetables in Pots to explore which fruits and vegetables grow best in pots, which varieties outperform their less robust cousins, how to plant and nurture your crops from planting to harvest, how to build your own best recipe for gardening success and how best to get the message out to others: the time is right for organic gardening.
Arguing the health and cost-cutting benefits to be gained from growing one’s own crops, Herda stresses the timeliness of his book in terms of modern inventions, new discoveries about horticultural techniques and new varieties of plants —
both fruits and vegetables — which have opened up unforeseen vistas for the apartment-bound prospective grower. Herda revels in the delights of what you can do and grow with a minimum of knowledge and space, and a maximum of enjoyment.
The topics that Herda covers include selecting the right container size and location, optimizing soil composition and nutrients, managing light, water and humidity, choosing the best fruits and vegetables for container gardening, eliminating pests and plant diseases naturally, and extending the harvest. For each recipe for success for the growing of 25 different types of fruits and vegetables (ranging from everyday, albeit unconventionally grown, tomatoes to the more exotic, though equally practicable, dwarf fig), Herda provides the following details: habit, cultivars, seed or transplants, pot size, water, comments, varieties, seeds, transplants, soil, insects, solutions, diseases, health benefits, ready for the kitchen, and annual savings. This 233-page guide is bountifully illustrated with both color and black-and-white photographs of the crops concerned, as well as of the containers in which you can grow them.
Herda’s style is humorous and highly accessible to the newcomer. Though he provides the scientific names for all the fruits and vegetables that he describes, he does not overwhelm one with a plethora of unnecessary and confusing detail. Above all, what Herda says makes a great deal of sense. For those who wish to read further in the field, he provides a list of web sites and books, though the average home gardener, no matter whether novice or seasoned pro, will most likely find all that he or she needs in this informative and wise text. [Reviewer for BookPleasures.com]
Arguing the health and cost-cutting benefits to be gained from growing one’s own crops, Herda stresses the timeliness of his book in terms of modern inventions, new discoveries about horticultural techniques and new varieties of plants —
both fruits and vegetables — which have opened up unforeseen vistas for the apartment-bound prospective grower. Herda revels in the delights of what you can do and grow with a minimum of knowledge and space, and a maximum of enjoyment.
The topics that Herda covers include selecting the right container size and location, optimizing soil composition and nutrients, managing light, water and humidity, choosing the best fruits and vegetables for container gardening, eliminating pests and plant diseases naturally, and extending the harvest. For each recipe for success for the growing of 25 different types of fruits and vegetables (ranging from everyday, albeit unconventionally grown, tomatoes to the more exotic, though equally practicable, dwarf fig), Herda provides the following details: habit, cultivars, seed or transplants, pot size, water, comments, varieties, seeds, transplants, soil, insects, solutions, diseases, health benefits, ready for the kitchen, and annual savings. This 233-page guide is bountifully illustrated with both color and black-and-white photographs of the crops concerned, as well as of the containers in which you can grow them.
Herda’s style is humorous and highly accessible to the newcomer. Though he provides the scientific names for all the fruits and vegetables that he describes, he does not overwhelm one with a plethora of unnecessary and confusing detail. Above all, what Herda says makes a great deal of sense. For those who wish to read further in the field, he provides a list of web sites and books, though the average home gardener, no matter whether novice or seasoned pro, will most likely find all that he or she needs in this informative and wise text. [Reviewer for BookPleasures.com]
February 3, 2013
The strongest part of this book is the section on companion planting. I felt that it was well organized, and I had never considered companion planting in containers before. As far as the rest of the book goes, I personally didn't draw a lot of inspiration out of it. As another reader mentioned, the author uses way too many bad jokes and puns, and it all seems a bit forced. Maybe he's an ok fella and all, but the writing style got annoying pretty quickly. There is plenty of information in here, but in my opinion how-to books like these NEED visuals and pictures. I don't care if he is the first guy to think of growing fruits and vegetables in pots, I want to SEE what he's done so that I can be inspired, and get at least one sock knocked off. This book, sadly, left me wearing two socks by the time I got through it. Another silly thing about this book is the estimated savings per year by growing each fruit or veggie at home. For every edible talked about a dollar amount of savings is shown (per person). There is no freaking way that the numbers in the book can possibly reflect the individual savings from one family/individual to the next, and I felt it was foolish to include that useless information. Different people consume different varieties and amounts of produce, so there is no way of telling how much money you personally might save if you grow your own arugula. Some people don't even know what arugula is, so I reckon they save plenty by never eating it at all. This book isn't bad, but it wasn't good enough to make me want to ever read another book by this author.
May 3, 2013
Reading this enjoyable book has been akin to living next to a master gardener. With light-hearted humor, easy-to-understand explanations of natural processes and four decades of cultivating experience, D.J. Herda shares a wealth of wisdom, best-practices and down-to-earth advise on growing good food without a yard. I learned not only the how-to's but (more importantly) the why's. I found the chapters on companion planting, homemade remedies for preventing/treating plant diseases and pruning to be most enlightening.
April 14, 2013
Too much writing, not enough visual representation for me. Good information on pots and watering, but not a "quick" enough guide for me.
June 4, 2013
Hopefully this will help me with my container garden. Hopefully my tomato, pepper, and impatient live!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews