The Container Victory Garden by Maggie Stuckey

The Container Victory Garden

by Maggie Stuckey

Whether you have a postage stamp's worth of space or acres to spare, The Container Victory Garden equips you to dig into the joys of container gardening, right where you are.

Imagine this: In the morning, you pluck mint off a plant on your kitchen windowsill herb garden and add it to your tea. A few hours later, you step out onto your patio and collect a handful of lettuce leaves for your lunch salad. Just before dinner, you harvest a few basil leaves and cherry tomatoes for a delicious caprese pasta.

In her trademark warm and informative style, bestselling author and expert gardener Maggie Stuckey shares everything you need to know to succeed with container gardening: planning, gearing up, planting, nurturing, and harvesting.

In The Container Victory Garden, you will find:

  • a photo index for easy reference while shopping for seeds or transplants
  • detailed line art drawings that illustrate various techniques and set ups
  • stories of World War II--era victory gardens and their connection to our gardens today
  • beautiful full-color paintings of diverse people enjoying their container gardens

This is the promise of container gardening: a fresh bounty of vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers you can enjoy year-round.

Reviewed by annieb123 on

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Originally posted on my blog Nonstop Reader.

The Container Victory Garden is a beginner friendly guide to growing food and herbs in containers written by Maggie Stuckey. Due out 21st Feb 2023 from HarperCollins on their Harper Horizon imprint, it's 272 pages and will be available in paperback, audio, and ebook formats. 

This is an appealing and accessible guide to growing plants and taking some steps toward our own food security and satisfaction with safe, accessible, high quality food which is good for physical and mental health. It's written in simple straightforward language with solid concrete steps on how to get started and how to progress.

The author describes "Victory" gardens from the past and draws parallels to cultural stress/crises (like the pandemic) and how people react by going back to basics and how good for mental and physical health growing a garden can be. Following chapters show the importance of planning, sourcing tools and supplies for the best outcomes, growing, troubleshooting, and specific varieties for success growing vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers. 

Specific tips and advice are set apart in the text in color highlighted text boxes. Charts are easy to read and understand. The book is enhanced by clear color photographs as well as appealing pastel/pencil line drawings by Janice Minjin Yang and Lee Johnston.

The appendix includes links and information to a number of retailers with selection of quality seeds for gardeners in North America. 

Five stars. This is a very useful, appealing, and well laid out book which has value both for new gardeners as well as more experienced readers. 

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes. 

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Reading updates

  • 15 February, 2023: Started reading
  • 15 February, 2023: Finished reading
  • 15 February, 2023: Reviewed