BOOK REVIEWS

Small Gardens
for modern living

Hamlyn, distributed by Bookwise
$NZ39.95

LIKE it or not, the shrinking garden is, for many urban gardeners, a reality. Time constraints and greater urban density sees gardeners' horizons shrinking and this is a timely manual.

Clearly laid out, Small Gardens for Modern Living ticks off aspects of gardening on a minor scale. Planning, enhancing space, hard landscaping materials, walls, water features and so on are explored with each chapter embellished with practical information; points to remember and plant guides.

There are clear, step-by-step projects to embark on - one that will capture readers' interest is a "leaf fountain" - a clever cascade fashioned from copper which would grace any garden, large or small. Other projects include making trellis; a turf seat; a topiary bird; and a "fedge" (as the name suggests a cross between a fence and a hedge). Detailed planting guides are a useful sidebar to most chapters.

Rooftop and basement gardens also get the once over. And if you're scratching your head over keeping the kids from going stir crazy in your miniature backyard, the final chapter is well worth a look.

Hands-on, exhaustive and superbly illustrated, this lavish handbook deserves a close look from the growing ranks of spatially-challenged gardeners.

Weekend Gardener, Issue 139, 2004, Page 28
(reproduced in Horticulture in New Zealand:
Journal of the Royal NZ Institute of Horticulture 2005, 8(1): 18-19)

Reproduced with permission from the former Weekend Gardener magazine. The views expressed here are not necessarily those of the RNZIH