Urban gardeners. Small-space gardeners. Container gardeners. This Small-Space Garden Giveaway is designed just for you!
Enter to win a complete EarthBox® Ready-to-Grow system, as well as a copy of Fern Richardson’s new critically acclaimed book, Small-Space Container Gardens. This giveaway has ended. Congratulations Melissa of Houston, Texas for winning this random drawing! Photo copyright EarthBox.
Impatiens growing in EarthBox system. Photo copyright EarthBox.
Want a nice garden, but don’t have much room? No problem. You can create an attractive small-space garden, even if you have a tiny balcony, modest patio or even a postage stamp-sized yard.
Over the years, I’ve gardened everywhere from a balcony in Boston’s Back Bay to a hip, little patio in Venice, California. My gardens weren’t large, but they made me happy and kept my fingers in the soil. As my gardens grew in size, I still looked for ways to create small, intimate spaces throughout my landscape, often using containers of all types.
'Forellenschluss' lettuce and parsley grow in a small wine box. Photo copyright Fern Richardson.
Small-Space Container Gardens: Fern Richardson understands. She’s been gardening on a small balcony in Southern California, and writing about her experiences on her popular blog Life on the Balcony for years.
Her new book Small-Space Container Gardens (2012; Timber Press) is a four-color celebration of small-garden tips that transform balconies, porches and patios with fruits, foliage, flowers and herbs in containers.
In her preface, Fern writes, “I find that gardening on my balcony satisfies my need to grow–herbs, peaches, nectarines, figs, blueberries, flowers, and succulents–while still leaving plenty of time and energy for other parts of my life.”
When you see all her ideas, you’ll understand why Fern is so inspired. Throughout her gardening guide, the author shares design tips, planting advice and do-it-yourself projects for creating a sensational small space garden, regardless of where you live. There are a wide variety of container ideas from clever wine boxes (shown above) to hanging baskets, pallet gardens and living walls.
Fern provides several simplified design plans to use as blueprints for creating everything from a Secret Garden Patio to a Potager with a Twist Balcony–featuring edibles like blueberries, salad greens and French thyme. She also covers important topics like attracting pollinators, growing fruit trees, planting privacy walls, building healthy soil and selecting aromatic plants. Large color photos and garden design drawings illustrate these topics nicely.
Many of Fern’s plant suggestions are oriented towards her Southern California climate. But four-season gardeners will find plenty of value in this clever gardening resource. She offers advice for protecting container plants from frosts — as well as other weather conditions like dry heat, wind and humidity.
Small-Space Container Gardens proves without a doubt that you don’t need a big yard to have a garden.
A Bit of Trivia: If you’ve been reading Seasonal Wisdom for a while, you may know already that Fern helped me redesign this blog a while back. Yep, she’s a woman with many talents.
Want to win a copy of this book? Keep reading…
You can grow a lot of vegetables in small spaces with an EarthBox. Photo copyright EarthBox.
EarthBox®: The challenges of small-space gardening were well-known to the commercial farmers who created the EarthBox container gardening system back in 1994. Their award-winning, patented system has helped many gardeners double the yield of a conventional garden with less fertilizers, less water, and less work.
Two tomatoes grow huge in the patented EarthBox system. Photo copyright EarthBox.
In my own garden, I have five EarthBox systems that I’ve used for tomatoes, peppers and other vegetables for years. The system lets me control my soil conditions, so I can minimize pest and pathogen problems with my plants.
Best of all, I can fit two tomatoes into one small EarthBox. So, I can grow up to 10 tomatoes in a very small space — without having to worry about crop rotation. That’s good news to this suburban gardener, who needs to pack a lot of different vegetables into a normal-size garden.
The clever container systems help plants thrive in the garden, because they include such cool features as:
A water reservoir irrigates plants automatically, while an overflow hole makes it impossible to over-water.
The mulch screen protects plants from weeds and pests. It also saves water.
An aeration screen prevents common container problems such as mold and root rot, by providing proper oxygen levels to the plant roots. And…
The fertilization strip provides just enough nutrients to plants, so that you’ll only fertilize once per season.
Quick Tip: When using the EarthBox containers, pay close attention to the instructions. These systems function in a certain way, and you’ll achieve the best results by following their advice.
Seasonal Wisdom’s Small-Space Garden Giveaway:
It’s a pleasure to host this random drawing, so that one lucky gardener will win two great prizes, including:
Terra Cotta EarthBox Ready to Grow Set
1) A Terracotta Organic EarthBox Ready-To-Grow Kit (suggested retail price $59.95):
This kit includes everything you need to get started, except the plants. You’ll receive the patented EarthBox system, fertilizer, potting soil and planting instructions. You’ll also receive casters, so you can move your container wherever you want.
2) A copy of Small-Space Container Gardens by Fern Richardson (suggested retail price $19.99).
This book features everything from a crash course in gardening fundamentals to lots of creative DIY projects and design ideas for balconies, porches, patios and other small-space gardens.
Enter to Win! We’d be delighted if you would follow Seasonal Wisdom and our two sponsors on Facebook, but this is NOT a criteria to win:
Seasonal Wisdom on Facebook
EarthBox and Small-Space Container Gardens on Facebook
How to Enter: It’s easy to enter this Small Space Garden Giveaway (valued at $80), but hurry! This giveaway ends at midnight on Friday, May 4, 2012. This giveaway has ended. Congratulations Melissa of Houston, Texas for winning this random drawing!
To enter, leave a comment below with some of your favorite space-saving tips for the garden.
The winner will be chosen at random by May 6, 2012 and contacted within 24 hours. If the proposed winner forfeits or does not claim the prize by May 9, the prize will be re-awarded based on the sponsor’s sole discretion. All prizes will be awarded. Please provide your name and email to enter this contest, so we can contact you promptly if you win. The winner agrees to allow his/her first name to be mentioned in conjunction with this giveaway.
The number of eligible entries will determine the odds of winning. This giveaway is limited to U.S. residents only, who are over the age of 18 years old. NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO WIN. This sweepstakes is VOID WHERE PROHIBITED BY LAW. By entering this giveaway, you are agreeing to these conditions.
Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post, and the prizes were provided at no charge for this giveaway.
Please be sure to enter this giveaway before midnight on May 4, 2012. Good luck everyone! Meanwhile, stay tuned for another great garden giveaway coming soon.
All images in this post are copyright EarthBox or Fern Richardson.
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