How to Grow Organic Vegetables in Containers (Anywhere!) [Paperback]

With all the yapping the author of this book does about environmental impact, perhaps she should have considered the impact of wasting paper. It is obvious within seconds of picking up this book why the author had to use pay to publish crap peddler, iUniverse to get this trash on the market.

When I came across this book I was looking for something to use as a supplement to McGee & Stuckey's The Bountiful Container. I wanted a book that would get more in depth into building organic soil and using organic pest control and fertilizers. I was also hoping for more than three (well known to most gardeners) suggestions as to which companies would carry good organic seed and product selections. What I got instead was a lesson in internet book buying (check the publisher first).

Logan's book contains very little information that can't be found in the average gardening book. She does almost nothing to address the specific issues relating to container gardening and organic gardening. She addresses the issue of organic gardening in a lecturing tone by constantly pushing why organic is best, but barely touching on how to garden organically. Her section on pest control dedicates an entire page to a photo of her dog, yet doesn't give any information on how to identify different pests or how to create organic solutions. The few solutions that are mentioned are simply glanced over as though the reader already knows what they are and how to prepare them. The fertilizing section is similar in that she lists a few organic fertilizers, but doesn't make it clear how or in what potencies they should be used.

The information contained within this book is limited and basic. The formatting is clearly designed to maximize the amount of space the information can be spread into. The author clearly uses the same tricks high school students use to spread a three page paper into five pages. The primary section of this book takes up only sixty four pages (twenty of which are dedicated to poorly taken full page black and white photos), the majority of which is dedicated to lecturing on the evils of chemicals and very basic gardening information. The remaining forty or so pages are dedicated to a glossary that could fit into half that if each letter wasn't started on a separate page. Ultimately, if the author were to use a normal font size and less spacing between sections, the entire book could probably be fit into less than fifty pages. By removing the filler, the portions of this book relevant and useful to organic container gardening could be fit into a pamphlet.

I've learned my lesson. Don't waste your $12. If you want a book that addresses container gardening well (and contains at least as much information about organics) get McGee & Stuckey's The Bountiful Container. When purchased through Amazon it even costs less than this waste of paper.

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