Pocket Gardening: A Guide to Gardening in Impossible Places

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian Studies at
Concordia University and an avid outdoor recreationist. She is also the
author of The Mountain Is Moving: Japanese Women’s Lives, Kurlek, and
Margaret Laurence: The Long Journey Hom

Marjorie Harris, gardening columnist for The Globe and Mail and author
of many books, is perhaps Canada’s best-known and most popular garden
writer.

Pocket Gardening will be welcomed by city and suburban dwellers with
pocket-sized garden space. Neither an apartment balcony nor a dusty
alley defeats Harris. Her own small but carefully designed garden
harbors thousands of plants.

Chapters in the book include “Retrieved Spaces: Sidewalks, Raised
Beds and Berms,” “Scree, Gravel, Cracks and Crevices,” and
“Gardening on High: Balconies, Roofs and Window Boxes.” A berm is
any raised, rounded form some three feet high or higher; berms can
redeem dead ground and create their own micro-climate. Screes (areas of
broken stone of many sizes) provide great drainage material and are an
ideal solution in difficult circumstances.

Harris writes with refreshing verve, common sense, and humor. Her ideas
and useful tips reflect years of experience, experiment, and study.
Pocket Gardening is highly recommended.