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BOOK REVIEWS--NONFICTION
McGee & Stuckey's: The Bountiful Container
by Rose Marie Nichols McGee and Maggie Stuckey
©2002 Workman Publishing
Living smack-dab in the middle of one of the largest cities in the world, often known as La-La Land for good reason, the only possible way I can have nature of any kind, much less edible nature, around me on a regular basis is through container gardening. With just a few windows (that happily get southern sun exposure), some terracotta pots, a handful of seeds, and The Bountiful Container, it was easy to, at least initially, fearlessly begin my gardening adventure.
Separated into three parts, the book can be read from beginning to end as easily as it can be utilized as a handy at-your-fingertips plant encyclopedia. The first section explains the basic whys, wheres, and hows of container gardening. The second section, geared more towards the general gardening newbies like me, goes into great detail about the basic hardware and 'software' (that is, soil and plants!) used in gardening, and even dips briefly into the scary world of pests as well as explaining the basic science of fertilizers. The third, and by far largest section, lists plant after plant with detailed notes—ranging from planting and harvesting tips to most common problems faced with each plant to recipes and comparison of plant varieties. This third section is further broken down into four parts: vegetables, herbs, fruits, and edible flowers.
If all these possibilities are just too dizzying to consider, as there were indeed for me, sprinkled throughout this last section are 'theme gardens' the authors helpfully designed to gently introduce us to the happiness container gardening can bring. (Can you tell yet that I bought their whole spiel hook, line, and sinker?) The themes include: 'A Kid's Garden' with Beans, Carrots, Pumpkins, and Sunflowers; 'Hanging Gardens of Babylon' involving Chamomile, Cherry tomatoes, Nasturtiums, Malabar spinach, Strawberries, and Thyme; and 'Romeo and Juliet' featuring plants mentioned in a Shakespearean stanza, ranging from Calendula to Rosemary, all of which where thought at that time to help aging men regain their, ahem, physical strength and prowess. And as if all this wasn't already enough, interspersed throughout the book are one-page articles on more advanced gardening topics, like 'Drying Herbs', 'Root Pruning', 'Herbal Vinegars', 'Heirloom Vegetables, and 'Seed Saving'.
Although I've just begun this first real gardening foray, no matter what the results, I feel like I've learned some of the basics of gardening that I will definitely use, and build on, in the future. And I've learned it in a way that was small in scope and therefore not overwhelming, which is crucial for the newcomer to any field. In the preface, the authors promised that every single plant mentioned is edible and they indeed deliver on that promise - just like with cookbooks, leafing through this book made me hungry for my very own delicious homemade, *and* homegrown!, meal. - andrea hull
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