Organic Crops in Pots—A Book Review

Grow Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs in Container Gardens

Nov 16, 2009 Jamie McIntosh

Deborah Schneebeli-Morrell tells organic gardeners how to grow a container garden full of edible plants on a deck, balcony, or even a windowsill.

Container gardening makes a popular hobby accessible to anyone with a pot and a sunny windowsill, but the author of Organic Crops in Pots: How to Grow Your Own Vegetables, Fruits and Herbs wants gardeners to know that it’s also easy to use organic methods in containers. Deborah Schneebeli-Morrell shares several arguments for using organic methods in edible container gardens, including climate change, sustainability concerns, and the toxicity of pesticides. This fully illustrated book is accessible to organic gardening beginners, but it offers inspiration to seasoned gardeners as well.

Organic Gardening Basics

The chapter on “Getting Started” is an essential read for new organic gardeners, as it covers basics like starting a compost pile, using organic fertilizers, growing plants from seed, and using organic mulch. The section on dealing with pests and diseases is little more than an overview, but gardeners can find specific methods to deal with problems in the individual plant profiles.

Organic Herbs in Containers

The author doesn’t attempt to offer a comprehensive look at growing an organic herb container garden; rather, she shares six ways to create an attractive herb garden that includes some of the most commonly used kitchen herbs. The reader can get a sense for which annual or perennial herbs require the same growing conditions in this chapter.

Salad Gardening in Containers

In the chapter “Leaves and Shoots,” Schneebeli-Morrell offers the reader ideas for container salad gardens that go beyond leaf lettuce in a tub. The organic gardener who creates a container salad garden can have gourmet greens every day of the year if he grows Swiss chard, oriental greens, arugula, and spinach in containers. The containers in this section partner well with their plants. Who knew that one could grow a salad garden in a kitchen colander?

Recipes for Organic Container Gardens

Although many books on container gardening offer recipes, or templates that the gardener can follow to create successful pairings of vegetables in pots, the author places an emphasis on aesthetics for container gardens. Schneebeli-Morrell wants the reader to enjoy looking at the creation that occupies a precious bit of real estate, so she offers creative ways to match vegetables with their container.

Acknowledging the popular trend of grow bags, the author says, “these sausage-shaped plastic bags, filled with potting mix, will fit on a small balcony, but they have little else to recommend them.” Her blunt assessment that such containers are “extremely ugly” rings true, and the remedy is found in her creative use of sacks, baskets, olive oil cans, and tubs as containers. A “green care” sidebar that shares organic pest and disease tips accompanies each plant profile.

Organic Crops in Pots: How to Grow Your Own Vegetables, Fruits, and Herbs (2009, ISBN: 978-1-906525-56-9) by Deborah Schneebeli-Morrell is published in hardback by Cico Books at $24.95.

The copyright of the article Organic Crops in Pots—A Book Review in Organic Gardens is owned by Jamie McIntosh. Permission to republish Organic Crops in Pots—A Book Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Organic Herb Container Garden