BOOK REVIEW: The City Gardener's Handbook

The City Gardener's Handbook by Linda Yang is a through reference written with warm pithy wit and  seasoned wisdom. The book's content is broken into "chunks" or paragraphs within chapter topics. Each paragraph having a short descriptive blurb in the margin that make it easy to scan. This organization makes it perfect to read on the subway or while riding the bus because you can easily find your place if you have to scurry to get a seat at a stop or fold a page over while making a transfer to another train. 

Each chapter provides a part of the complete story of how to garden in a city. From containers to soil to when and what to plant to pests and how to plan a garden space around the light that shines into it though the buildings surrounding.  The lists of plants are not so extensive as to overwhelm but rather are the crib notes of a master gardener who though trial and error has provided a solid "plant vocabulary" with which to work. Each plant listing section has a specific purpose in the puzzle of urban garden design. Though it would have been nice to see thumbnail pictures next to each plant's information. Speaking of pictures the before and after snapshots, the garden layouts and the plant illustrations break up the content and create imagination - reminding one of a classy friend's project scrapbook.

The recommendations and advice in the book are comprehensive and give the feeling that a close friend or family member who has been down the road ahead is passing on the tips and things to watch out for. The tone is never patronizing. In fact the book encourages trial and error and is reassuring that mistakes can be very helpful.

Sometimes Ms. Yang drills below the surface regarding the history of gardening practices.  The references to ancient civilizations might be highbrow to some readers - but these morsels of gardening history  are a welcome relief from the elementary presentation of  current "idiot guides" and bring connection with the past eons of gardening that we have evolved from. All this makes the guide more than a consumable paperback but a work that contributes to the human urban endeavor and joy that gardening in the city brings. Whether on the bed stand or with you in the dirt "The City Gardener's Handbook" is indispensable for the new and the serious as well as the newly serious urban planter.