Royal Horticultural Society Small Garden Handbook: Making the Most of Your Outdoor Space - Softcover

With magnificent color pictures on every page and an easy-to-read format, this book is a valuable and inspiring resource for both advanced and beginner gardeners... The advice, offered in concise paragraphs with lots of lists and bullet points, is easy to comprehend and follow. Each chapter includes a list of 15 well-articulated ideas that readers can implement at home... While many gardening books assume readers are already experienced gardeners, this one starts at the beginning... Between useful, practical and easily implementable ideas and the attractive images of gardens that work well, Wilson offers a fantastic handbook to anyone with an interest in gardening -- green thumb or no.-- (04/15/2013)

Andrew Wilson's Small Garden Handbook will come in handy... Especially helpful is its 15 ways series, including how to reveal a plot's potential, how to spruce up boundaries, how to use garden structure, and how to simplify gardening.-- (05/06/2013)

A comprehensive guide to planning, planting and maintaining a small garden.

This in-depth reference packs a lot of information and expert advice into one easy-to-use resource. It is designed to help home gardeners discover the potential in a small piece of land and guide them step-by-step through the process of transforming it into a garden with oversized impact.

The book works forward from planning a garden and making difficult design choices, to installation and maintenance. Each chapter instructs on numerous related topics (such as the examples below) and presents an illustrative case study:

• Basics - 15 ways to reveal your plot's potential, understanding soil, evaluating hardscaping, making a plan
• Design - 15 ways to make instant impact, principles of design
• Styles - 15 ways to find your style, Style Portfolio
• Materials - 15 ways to exploit materials, simple rules of laying paving, changes of level
• Boundaries - 15 ways to buff up your boundaries, materials, plants
• Structures - 15 ways to use garden structures, storage, hideaways, green roofs, raised beds, an outdoor office
• Water - 15 ways to enjoy water, planning a pond, mirror-like water, dynamic water, plants, fish
• Planting - 15 ways to improve a planting design, habitats, styles, long-term and short-term, design statements
• Upkeep - 15 ways to simplify the garden, seasonal and monthly housekeeping tasks.

The book also features an inspirational portfolio of small gardens and provides all the information needed to install these designs. For example, the handy "7 steps to create..." lists cover Japanese, Mediterranean, Exotic, Ecological, Cottage-garden, Arts and Crafts, Modernist, Conceptualist and Urban gardens.

Small Garden Handbook is ideal for the home gardener. Each of the gardens featured in the book's 300 photographs provides exceptional inspiration for gardeners at all levels of expertise.