Royal Horticultural Society Small Garden Handbook: Making the Most of Your Outdoor Space / Andrew Wilson

A comprehensive guide to planning, planting and maintaining a small garden.

This in-depth reference packs a lot of information and expert advice into one easy-to-use resource. It is designed to help home gardeners discover the potential in a small piece of land and guide them step-by-step through the process of transforming it into a garden with oversized impact.

The book works forward from planning a garden and making difficult design choices, to installation and maintenance. Each chapter instructs on numerous related topics (such as the examples below) and presents an illustrative case study:

• Basics - 15 ways to reveal your plot's potential, understanding soil, evaluating hardscaping, making a plan
• Design - 15 ways to make instant impact, principles of design
• Styles - 15 ways to find your style, Style Portfolio
• Materials - 15 ways to exploit materials, simple rules of laying paving, changes of level
• Boundaries - 15 ways to buff up your boundaries, materials, plants
• Structures - 15 ways to use garden structures, storage, hideaways, green roofs, raised beds, an outdoor office
• Water - 15 ways to enjoy water, planning a pond, mirror-like water, dynamic water, plants, fish
• Planting - 15 ways to improve a planting design, habitats, styles, long-term and short-term, design statements
• Upkeep - 15 ways to simplify the garden, seasonal and monthly housekeeping tasks.

The book also features an inspirational portfolio of small gardens and provides all the information needed to install these designs. For example, the handy "7 steps to create..." lists cover Japanese, Mediterranean, Exotic, Ecological, Cottage-garden, Arts and Crafts, Modernist, Conceptualist and Urban gardens.

Small Garden Handbook is ideal for the home gardener. Each of the gardens featured in the book's 300 photographs provides exceptional inspiration for gardeners at all levels of expertise.