Have you ever heard of the book The Earth Moved by Amy Stewart? If you haven’t for some reason, it is a fascinating dip into the world of Oligochaeta and the oligochaetologists who study them. In other words, the book is all about earthworms and the…unique…people who have dedicated themselves to studying worms. You would think that earthworms would make a pretty boring subject matter for a book, but the book was so popular and got so much praise (from big shots like Anne Raver at the New York Times) that Amy’s publisher decided to re-release it. Hence the review copy I recently received.

So, how do I go from reading a re-released copy of an immensely popular book on earthworms to becoming the proud owner of 1,000 red wiggler worms? That is for another post. The very next post. I promise. But I want to share a little bit about The Earth Moved.

Normally, the books I review here have pictures. Lots of pictures. In fact, I kind of think that gardening books need lots of really fabulous pictures to be worth reading. In my mind, they’re like cookbooks in that regard. They must have pictures! This book has no pictures. It is not a “how to,” or “inspirational” book in the usual sense. Amy would probably even say that this isn’t a gardening book, and I tend to agree with her. Though it should be of interest to all gardeners.

So what is The Earth Moved? It is Amy’s exploration of the subterranean world beneath her garden, beneath all of our gardens. What the heck are worms doing down there? Amy set about to find out, and she shares her adventures, from the pages of Charles Darwin’s The Formation of Vegetable Mould (a less well known book by the same guy who first described evolution) to the role earthworms played in the banning of DDT in the U.S. in the early 1970s.

Earthworms do all sorts of fascinating things. For example, earthworms are involved in sanitizing sewage at a treatment plant in Pacifica, CA. The same red wigglers that home vermicomposters use in their bins are being used to get rid of harmful bacteria in sewage. Perhaps less disgusting and surprising to experienced gardeners, professional petunia growers also use worms in their business. They have found that growing petunias in a mix of 80% soilless mix and 20% worm castings (i.e. their poop) produces petunias ready for garden centers 1-2 weeks faster than just straight soilless mix.

There are also many fascinating types of earthworms. For example, there is a giant earthworm living in Washington state that smells like lilies. It’s called the Giant Palouse Earthworm (Driloleirus americanus). They’re two feet long! But that’s not even the craziest earthworm Amy wrote about. Keep an eye out for Amy’s story of blue worms with yellow spots. Yep. You read that right. Polka-dotted worms.

I haven’t even scratched the surface (get it?) of interesting things Amy unearthed (ha ha) about earthworms. I think every gardener, even container gardeners (especially container gardeners!), should read and will thoroughly enjoy this book. If you don’t think small-space container gardeners need worms. Stay tuned for my next post…

p.s. Amy Stewart owns a bookstore in Eureka, CA and is a passionate advocate for independently-owned bookstores. Normally when I talk about a book I link to Amazon, but I thought I’d link Amy’s book to IndieBound, a website she turned me on to for locating the books you want to read at a local, independent bookstores. Check it out and give your local shop a try!

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I received The Earth Moved as a free review copy from the book’s publisher. Here is more information about my book review policy.

This is a great time of year for gardening books. Publishers seem to know that we’re all hungry for spring and help us bide the time with book after book of delicious garden books. Beginners Illustrated Guide to Gardening by Katie Elzer-Peters definitely fits the bill. If you have decided that this is the year you will finally figure out this new fandangled gardening thing, Katie’s book is a great choice to help guide you.

Katie has a degree in horticulture and many years of experience working in public gardens. Her knowledge and ability to teach others shines through on every page of this book. She is never preachy, just matter-of-fact with the information you need to know. For example, she doesn’t tell you there is only one way to stake or cage your floppy plants. She gives you the pros and cons for each and suggestions for when one method might be better than the other.

The book’s design and graphics are nothing short of brilliant. the good stuff begins right away in the “Introduction” and “What You Need” chapters that are full of colorful line drawings and photos explaining everything from the parts of plants, flowers, and seeds to which clippers are used for different tasks.

The next part is tabbed with red edges clearly explains to newbie gardeners how to navigate around a garden center, read a plant tag, understand seed packets, decipher a hardiness zone map, figure out fertilizer, and choose healthy plants. Again, I don’t think I can stress this enough, the graphics are so gosh darn cool. After looking at these images and reading Katie’s advice, an alien from outer space would understand how to garden on Earth.

The following chapters are all tabbed with a different color, making it quick and simple to get to the right part. Part Two is blue and covers gardening basics like seed starting and how to correctly water plants. Part Three is about lawn care and is appropriately tabbed in green. Part Four is purple and covers trees and shrubs; how to buy them, plant them, prune them, and fix tree and shrub problems. Part Five is yellow and about flowers, both annuals and perennials, sun plants and shade plants. Part Six is about vegetables and is carrot orange. Finally, Part Seven is brown and discusses finishing touches like mulching and adding containers to your patio.

Peppered throughout the book are “Just Grow With It” blurbs with helpful tips on things like where to cut when you’re pruning your rose bush or suggested plants for attracting butterflies. These are often next to a related project, which are always depicted with step by step photos and instructions, as well as a supplies list.

All-around, Beginners Illustrated Guide to Gardening is a fantastic book!

If you just want a recipe for refrigerator pickles, then skip this book and Google it. But if you want information about living a more sustainable, self-sufficient, home-grown lifestyle, then Daniel Gasteiger has written your bible: Yes You Can! And Freeze and Dry It, Too. This is the sort of book that makes you feel smart for having read it. Daniel shares his food preserving experience and tips in a way that is intelligent and informative while still highly accessible.

Thanks to the internet, everyone and their mother has published their thoughts on how to freeze peas or preserve green beans. This book has more than enough of that sort of advice to get you started, but the real value of this book is Daniel himself. Want to know how much broccoli to plant so that you can preserve enough to feed a family of five? Daniel has been there, done that, and he provided plenty of useful lists for planning that sort of thing. Oops. Someone left your freezer door open. Daniel has been through that too and he has helpful advice on how to determine what to save and what to toss. How should you decide whether to freeze, dry, or can your strawberries? Daniel has thoughts and suggestions to help guide your decision.

The book is nicely designed, with useful colored strips at the top of each page to help you flip to exactly the right info. Advice on making the most of your root cellar is in orange, dehydrating is brown, freezing is red, canning is either dark green or lime green depending on the acidity of the item to be preserved, and so on. Throughout the book are helpful “From the Tip Jar” thoughts from Daniel on everything from ways to use up extra simple syrup to ideas for making nutritious frozen treats for the dog days of summer.

I know Daniel a little bit through the wonders of the internet. His voice comes through loud and clear in this book. Daniel is self-assured, knowledgeable, and has a wry sense of humor. When you’re preserving food using this book, you will get to know Daniel a little bit too. It reads as though your super-smart, handy next door neighbor has sat you down and taught you step-by-step how to preserve the best of each season and eat better all year round.

I’m not an experienced food-preserver, but I was able to follow Daniel’s sage advice and made some delicious pickled vegetables. Daniel recommends using them in a sweet and sour pork recipe that he included in the book, but this vegetarian might not be able to resist eating them all right out of the jar…

If you are looking for a definitive guide to saving all those tomatoes you have on your plants, you will be thrilled to have Yes You Can! in your kitchen.

Here’s where to find Daniel on the internets

• Your Small Kitchen Garden (blog)
• Facebook Page
• Twitter

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I received Yes You Can! as a free review copy from the book’s publisher. Here is more information about my book review policy.

Please welcome author Helen Babbs (My Garden, the City and Me) to Life on the Balcony as she gives us a tour of her London rooftop garden and some of the creatures that visit her from time to time. In case you needed any more convincing, Helen’s garden is proof that you can grow almost anything, regardless of how small or lacking in dirt your garden space may be…

My garden is a three metre square rooftop, attached to a tiny apartment in a chaotic bit of north London. The space is home-sweet-home but postage stamp sized. What makes my part of this paltry palace special is the fact my bedroom contains a glass door that opens out onto that fenced-in flat roof.

An over-sized balcony that was once a blank grey square, I’ve turned it into an aerial, edible garden packed with various potted plants. Knotted with climbing peas and beans, and scented with herbs and dotted with flowers, it’s a true living room where I can pick salad for lunch, and sun and moon bathe for hours.

As well as crops that can bear an entirely container bound life – runner bean, tomato, courgette, potato, garlic, radish, strawberry, salads and herbs – I’ve sought out flowers, especially night blooming ones. Summer evenings on the roof are perfumed by tobacco plant, evening primrose and jasmine.

I share the space with various creatures. There are havoc-wreaking squirrels and hungry slugs and snails, but also welcome beetles, bees, butterflies, birds and even bats. Pollinators are drawn in by the nectar-rich likes of lavender and sweet-pea. Ladybirds eat my aphids, birds eat my slugs and bats pick off any biting mosquitoes.

My favourite visitors are a dishevelled blackbird and his lady wife. He sits and sings on my fence posts, while she steals string from my bean poles. Their efforts mean a space that’s sandwiched between the Camden and Holloway Roads is sound-tracked with birdsong as well as traffic hum and sirens.

I love the fact my tiny rooftop kitchen garden has become a nature reserve of sorts. Spending so much time outside has made me even more curious about London’s green spaces. I’ve started exploring her wildernesses and getting to know more about the wildlife that makes a home here.

There’s something extra special about the nature found within a city sprawl. The fact that wildlife can be vigorous and that a range of creatures can survive and even thrive in such a seething, heaving place as London is brilliant.

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When Helen isn’t getting dirty on her roof, she’s a writer and journalist. My Garden, the City and Me: Rooftop Adventures in the Wilds of London - is her first book and has just been published. It’s about the glory of growing things and the ecology of a capital city. The book reveals how much wildlife urban areas can support and invites readers to see built-up spaces in new ways. Find out more at www.aerialediblegardening.co.uk and www.helenbabbs.wordpress.com

Crystal! I’ll send you an email to find out where I can send your copy of Garden Up!

Thanks to everyone who entered. It’s an excellent book, so I hope you’ll get yourself a copy and send me fab pictures of your vertical gardens!

If you enjoy clever vertical gardening ideas (like planting a pallet garden) then I am sure you will enjoy a great book I was given called Garden Up! by Susan Morrison and Rebecca Sweet. It is chock full of useful advice from two very talented garden designers. Susan and Rebecca walk you step by step through the vertical garden design process, and offer all sorts of great tips for solving common problems, like how to hide an ugly air conditioning unit, or unsightly electrical boxes.

This is totally the kind of book that you flip through in the bookstore and say “ooh, I want to do that,” and “wow, that’s so clever!” After saying those sorts of things so many times to yourself, you end up buying a copy for yourself and another for a friend whose birthday is coming up (and whose patio could use some of the tips in the book! ).

The Kind of Awesomeness You Can Expect in Garden Up!

Garden Up! is broken down into eight chapters that cover things like design ideas for skinny spaces, solutions for disguising eyesores, how to create a living wall, and plant suggestions for tackling specific vertical gardening projects (to name a few). Sprinkled throughout are charming sketches that explain design concepts, and sidebars that take a closer look at a particular garden’s vertical gardening ideas.

Oh, and always important in a gardening book, the photos show all sorts of gardens that you wish were yours, like a fire escape that looks more like an English country garden, and a small patio with shutters that double as a succulent planters.

Love strawberries? You’ll definitely want to flip to page 134 and 135 to see the PVC pipe turned strawberry pot, hanging from a wall (it’s right next to the DIY upside down tomato planter). I bet it is actually better than traditional strawberry pots at keeping the strawberries well watered because there are no awkward pockets to miss with the watering can.

You’ll also find lots of clever trellis/fencing ideas. I loved the re-use of these old gates as trellises to soften a cinder block wall. There was another really awesome idea on page 75 to upgrade basic lattice into something really special. I don’t have a photo of that one, so you’ll just have to take my word on it and buy the book to see for yourself. I think I am going to try something similar the next time I need a trellis.

Did you know that grapes can be trained into patio trees? Me neither. That is, until I saw one in all its glory on page 131. Last week I noticed that my local garden center is selling all sorts of wine grapes, like merlot and pinot noir. How awesome would it be to have a pot with a grape “tree” that you can use to make your own wine? Susan and Rebecca have several other ideas for edible plants that can be trained into small trees, perfect for adding height to small spaces.

If you want to see more photos from the book, check out the official Garden Up Flickr stream.

Still Hungry for More Vertical Garden Deliciousness?

Tune in on Wednesday for Garden Up! co-author Susan Morrison’s guest post. A while back, Susan shared the bird’s eye view sketch of a small patio courtyard she had designed for a client. I knew it would be awesome, and asked Susan if she would share some of her small-space garden ideas in a guest post. Lucky for all of us, she agreed! I’ve already read the post and drooled over the photos of that completed courtyard, so I know you guys will love it!

Photo by Sarah Cady

I was flipping through my copy of Sugar Snaps & Strawberries last night, and rediscovered a great section with tips on container gardening on balconies and patios. If you remember from my previous review, Sugar Snaps & Strawberries is an awesome guide to growing your own food in urban spaces. Andrea shares all sorts of ideas, from guerilla gardening to raised beds, and everything in between.

Here are Andrea’s tips for picking the right container:

1. “Containers are water hogs” - Andrea suggests buying a pot that is a size or two larger than you think you’ll need, and I totally agree. The smaller the pot, the more often you’ll have to water during the summer. When I was refreshing my balcony garden this weekend, I got rid of most of my small pots, and brought in a few new, larger ones for exactly this reason.
2. “Bad drainage rots roots” – Andrea is not a fan of plant saucers or pots without drainage holes at all. And for good reason. They both trap water in a pot, which can lead to rotting roots. Andrea suggests using pot feet to raise your pot off the ground and allow water to drain away.
3. “Container size limits plant size” – A lot of people don’t realize that there is a correlation between the size of plant you can see above ground, and the root system that you can’t see below ground. Andrea asks gardeners to be kind to their trees and larger plants by giving them a pot that gives their roots room to grow.
4. “Not all containers are created equal” –  Andrea advises investing in better quality containers that can withstand the weather in your area. It may seem cheaper to buy an inexpensive pot, but if it cracks the first time you have a hard freeze/thaw and you have to replace it, the pot wasn’t that cheap after all.

Have your own tips for picking a great pot? Share them in the comments!

I am so excited to review and highly recommend fellow blogger Andrea Bellamy’s debut book: Sugar Snaps and Strawberries. Andrea–who can be found at one of my favorite gardening blogs, Heavy Petal–wrote an inspiring book for those with a can-do spirit but not much gardening space.

One of my favorite parts of garden books are the pictures, and Sugar Snaps and Strawberries does not disappoint! The photos are beautiful, and inspiring, but they’re also real, and attainable. You look at them and think “I can do this!” Another visually appealing aspect of this book is the overall design, it looks like a crafty person’s scrapbook and makes the book feel very approachable.

The next thing on my list of requirements for a gardening book is actionable information that I can implement right away. Even though I’ve been gardening in one form or another for close to twenty years, I felt refreshed and re-inspired by Andrea’s advice. I really appreciated the sidebars sprinkled throughout the book with quick “hey, try this” sort of tips. For example, on page 19, Andrea made a list of easy-to-digest info on making an edible garden beautiful, with ideas like “Aim for a variety of leaf shapes in your planting. Contrast crinkly leafed chard with fern like carrots and large leafed squashes with tall, slim straps of leeks.”

Andrea really does a great job of holding your hand as you create your vegetable garden, but respects you enough to point you towards a vegetable garden that is just as pretty as any flower bed. Someone who has never gardened before can pick this book up, follow Andrea’s advice, and be very successful. And those of us who have grown a tomato or two in our lives will find plenty of great ideas and advice to keep us flipping to the next page.

If you’re looking for a last minute gift for the gardener on your list, Sugar Snaps and Strawberries by Andrea Bellamy is definitely it!

p.s. One of the photos in the book depicts a canoe completely packed to the brim with a gorgeous vegetable garden. You really can garden anywhere!

I’ve been reading through my review copy of The Book of Little Hostas by Kathy and Michael Shadrack. It’s a great introduction to hostas, with a focus on plants that form clumps less than 15 inches tall, and some as small as 6 inches tall. The really great thing about the hostas featured in Little Hostas is that they are all well-suited to container gardens, some practically require it.

I didn’t know much about hostas before reading this book. Hostas aren’t particularly well-suited to Southern California’s hot, dry summers. But after reading Little Hostas, I’ve fallen in lust with several of these diminutive plants. Here are my three favorites:

• Hosta ‘X-Rated’ - I love the ribbon-like leaves. And the name. This hosta does best in dappled shade, according to Little Hostas, and can be grown in a tub or in a rock garden.
• Hosta ‘Snow Mouse’ – This plant has fantastic blue-green leaves with splashes of cream down the center. The Shadracks say that this hosta will take some sun and is best grown in a ceramic container.
• Hosta ‘Dragon Tails’ - Great chartreuse color and ruffled leaves. The Shadracks recommend light shade, and I can really see this plant bringing some zip to a shady window box.

Have you ever grown hostas in a container? What’s your favorite cultivar? Got any growing tips?

On this, the afternoon before Halloween festivities get started, I have been reading through my review copy of How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack, by Chuck Sambuchino. Since this advice is of the utmost of importance and relevancy, I thought I would share three of Chuck’s ideas for protecting, defending, and doing hand-to-hand combat with garden gnomes.

1. Construct a Moat – According to Sambuchino, garden gnomes cannot swim. If possible, dig a trench around your home and fill it with water. This is an effective means of thwarting an attack on your home.
2. Keep Multiple Bicycles on Hand – Apparently garden gnomes often disable automobiles, in order to prevent their victims’ escape. If you have several alternate methods of escape, your odds of survival improve.
3. Partially Block Doorways – By placing objects in doorways that limit access, gnomes will have to enter in single file, making it easier for you to knock them off, and discouraging further attacks.

I hope these ideas help you have a safe, and happy Halloween. Find more garden gnome protection ideas in How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack, it’s a fun, easy read.