The Postage Stamp Vegetable Garden

The Postage Stamp Vegetable Garden by Karen Newcomb is a fantastic book on creating gardens in small spaces- from small patios to small containers that can be used to create herb gardens. The whole point is to maximize the modest space to create the largest amount of vegetables. Another unique feature is that the whole process from the soil to unwanted pest control is done organically.

The book is broken down into eight chapters: Chapter one is dedicated to planning your garden and serves to answer the questions, "how, what, when, where"; Chapter two looks at how to prepare the soil for your garden; Chapter three focuses on how to prepare the ground which is an extremely important part of the process, think of it as the foundation of a house; Chapter four targets more in depth the "when and how" to plant which is equally important because if you are currently in the frozen tundra of the North Eastern United States it may be a little difficult to plant anything right now, perhaps for the next three months you could hibernate in the "planning" stage; Chapter five centers on how to water your garden; Chapter six is a fantastic little chapter that plans out delicious herb gardens; Chapter seven is committed to "getting along", in other words, what plants grow best together; and finally Chapter eight focuses on how to get rid of the nasty critters that would like to eat our garden before we get the chance.

Also included in the Appendix are the topics: "How to Compost" and "Seed Sources". The latest edition due to release February 17, 2015 contains the extra insight on heirloom seeds which allow you to save the seeds from the original plant and use them next season to create the same vegetables. Overall, an in-depth and insightful look at organic gardening within confined spaces.