Planted Junk: A New Approach to Container Gardening

Rating:
Summary: Same old
Review: Planted Junk
Adam Caplin
2001 Ryland Peters 144 pages ISBN 1-84172-159 X

Photographs by Francesca Yorke lift this book out of the "yet another book about containers" rut. She has managed to illustrate the text effectively, providing photographs that are relevant and practical as well as attractive.

Most of the ideas for containers-found around-the-house here are pretty standard stuff, although the writer has presented tin cans and metal containers in an interesting way. Personally, I'd be afraid that plants grown in tin cans, especially the small ones like beer cans, would have their roots cooked in warm weather. Maybe in a shady spot they might be worth a try.

The writer gives some information about planting and watering that may be useful to the novice gardener, but mostly it's the usual drill; filling teapots, baskets boxes drawers and wooden toys with easy to grow plants.

There is a fairly brief plant directory and a U.S. source list for pots and plants (even though the writer is English). The cover blurb says this book is a new approach to container gardening. I can't imagine what the publisher thought was new in this book.

Rating:
Summary: Lots of great ideas, and every inspirational.
Review: This book is all about the joy of finding junk and using it to create an interesting and ecclectic container garden. It's my two loves combined, junk hunting and gardening! I really liked how it dealt with different materials, and the pictures gave me more than enough ideas. It had simple steps outlined (including drill bit sizes and other information), and even though I've used a drill once in my life, I think I'd be ready to tackle some of the projects outlined in the book. Overall, it was an excellent book, with lots of inspirational ideas and pictures. If you've ever been at a loss for interesting containers to add to your garden, this is definately the book that will give you tons of inspiration.