The Edible Balcony: Growing Fresh Produce in Small Spaces Paperback – February 14, 2012

Wow! What a great book. It's the first color-photo book I've read on my Kindle Fire and the pictures are fabulous! The content is wonderful, too! I just moved to a condo with a balcony from a farmhouse where I intensively gardened 1/3 of an acre. I was curious to know if I could grow a few "edibles" on my balcony. I can! And, I'm going, too! With this book as a guide I'm going to have a thriving, beautiful "urban" garden. This book tells exactly how to do the many projects it features that will help small-space gardeners maximize their harvests. It also has a chapter on growing lovely to-look-at edible flowers. This book is filled with visual inspiration, instructions, materials, and how-to's! It also covers a fire-escape garden and rooftop gardens, more.I've uploaded some photos of my balcony last summer before I read this book. It was very pretty and great to enjoy and I grew a rhubarb, some culinary herbs, and some flowers. This year, inspired by this book I'm going to grow more AND because this book had a list of shade-loving herbs and veggies, I'm going to turn my second-floor front porch - same style as my balcony - into a secondary sitting area and grow some stuff on this north-facing porch, too. I'm also going to add a bistro set and a couple chairs (not enough room on my balcony for those, too) on the porch so I can enjoy summer mornings sipping a cappuccino while watching my plants thrive! I am so inspired by this book! I thought when I left my farmhouse I wouldn't be able to grow much, but I can grow quite a bit and still have a beautiful, enjoyable space. This book shows how to combine beauty and ascetics. It also covers "vertical" growing, so necessary and useful for restricted-space growing. I recommend this book to beginners and pros, alike!

I moved to the city recently and was missing my spring and summer gardens - this book gives GREAT ideas - ranging from very simple quick fixes to very intense and extravagant rooftop gardens.It also is a very pretty book and works as a nice coffee table read

I love The Edible Balcony: Growing Fresh Produce in Small Spaces. I do not know how they got so much information and so many beautiful photographs packed into this one single awesome reference. Everything but the kitchen sink is covered:Why should I grow food on my balcony?Planning your piece of the edible skyDesign BasicsPot ChoiceBest crops for grow bags, window box, hanging baskets, city farming, a windy balcony, raised beds, scarce water supply, shade, fruit tree orchard, heat, exotic, forest roof garden, and futuristic balconyEasiest cropsCrops that give alot backPotting Mix and plant foodHow to Make it personalBee-keepingHow to make your crops work hard so you don't have toHighly sustainable - worm farming, storing rainwater,Vertical farmingHydroponicsPests & diseasesRecommended suppliersThere are projects:Peas and sweet peas in a wicker basketBeets in a bread boxColorful zucchini in a top drawerUtilizing a hat rack as a trellisColander of tomatoes and nasturtiumsUtilizing reclaimed shoe hanger over over-door organizerUtilizing balcony railings as trellisHow to make your own simple self-watering container for freeUsing recycled bottles as hanging plantersUsing recycled bike tires as a planterMake a scarlet runner bean tunnelInspirational gardens and ideas are covered. There are beautiful photographs on just about every page. Maybe it is a little short on the harvesting end; this book is more about the creative inspiration stage and optimizing your space to your personal taste. While I don't recall the author, Alex Mitchell, mentioning the kitchen sink she did mention reclaiming a bathtub as a planter.The Edible Balcony: Growing Fresh Produce in Small Spaces has quickly become one of my favorite gardening coffee table books.

This is a Great book..particularly if you have no yard or have chosen to downsize and miss gardening but not mowing!The sections run from Make it Personal to Edible Forest Roof Garden, to Create a Salad Cascade, to City's Farmers Balcony and tons between with loads of projects that are clever and creative. This is a book that will get you onto a city roof with dirt and plants where you grow lovely pesticide free GMO free produce! LOVE IT, this is worth every penny!

This a great book that gives you many suggestions for urban city gardening.. I have seen suggestions for different kinds of containers that can be recycled from found or second hand flea market finds. I love the look of an eclectic green space. The photos are gorgeous and instructions, easy to follow. I purchased another book for my elderly mom. I LOVE GARDENING

better for apartment dwellers with a very small balcony or no outdoor areas at all. almost entirely focused on pot gardening, and no garden beds, etc. wish there was more substantive knowledge, and less fluff. however, very pretty book.

It includes what to plant, what containers, how-to and everything you need to plant on your balcony. I'm a novice and I'm having a lot of fun with it. So glad I got it. I'm already starting to see lettuce, garlic, onions, strawberries, peas, parsley, tomatoes and sunflowers and zinnias popping up on my little balcony in northern Ohio! Surprisingly, some are in pots and some in plastic bags!Must have. Great purchase.

There are so many ideas in this book, I don't think I can use them all this spring and summer. Almost every page has something I can use, or modify for my use. I especially like and will use the gutter idea for lettuce, radishes, onion sets, and herbs, which gives me more room in my small garden for tomatoes, peppers and squash.