'Complete Container Herb Gardening' is choke full of inspiration photos and information that will guide even the most beginner gardener to a successful experience. I, for one, have struggled in the past to create balanced and beautiful herb garden for my patios and balconies and wish I had Sue Goetz's book as a guide during my first attempt. The reader will even find some fun recipe inclusions for what to do with your herbs once they have grown. Make sure to pick up this book whether you are an established or a fledgling gardener you are bound to find inspiration your next project!

A good overall look at how to grow herbs in containers, easy enough for beginners and comprehensive enough for more experienced gardeners. This book covers a lot of information in an informal, easy to follow manner; I especially liked the ideas for different types of container herb gardens based on what you'll be using the herbs for- kitchen use, cosmetic purposes, chemical-free housecleaning, aromatherapy, etc. Filled with all sorts of helpful tips and tricks, this book will be a useful addition to any gardener's library.

#CompleteContainerHerbGardening #NetGalley

Useful information and a lot of good ideas for different pots, plant groupings, and uses for the various herbs. I especially appreciated the information on caring for herbs grown indoors, as that can be a struggle for me.

This is a very practical and informative book for anyone wanting to grow and learn about herbs. I grow a lot of herbs, being of Italian/Austrian heritage my whole life had meals and beverages made with herbs.
I like this book because it offers me information on growing them in pots, contained and easy to pick, and have close to the kitchen, ready to use.
There are three chapter, the first cover the best pots to use, best position and creating pots. The second covers culinary, herb beverages, healing, natural products, and bee friendly. the third chapter is about filling and maintenance of pots and lastly propagation.
There are lots of photos and plenty of information, lots of ideas and even how to grow some herbs inside.
I really like this book

Complete Container Herb Gardening by Sue Goetz is a lovely book, full of photos and ideas about how to grow herbs.

The herbs are laid out so you know what to grow together for things like what you might want to use in cooking, for drinking as a tea, and what are good together for aromatherapy.

I enjoyed seeing this take on herbs, and seeing information on storing the herbs once grown.    If you're interested in growing herbs, then this book probably has some ideas for you. It's got information for beginner gardeners with information on soil, sun exposure and so on.

 Complete Container Herb Gardening  by Sue Goetz was published on 22nd December 2020, and is available on  Amazon ,  Waterstones  and  Bookshop.org .

You can follow Sue Goetz on Twitter and her website.

I was given this book in exchange for an unbiased review, so my thanks to NetGalley and  Quarto .

Great photos and excellent advice. No matter the size of your yard container gardening is a great way to go but before you run out buy a bunch of pots and dirt read this book first, because not every container is great to grow plants in.

Informative, with great photos. Lots of information in a smaller book. It makes you want to start planting!

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* 3.5, though i admit i think a few of the text blocks were missing on some pages

This is a lovely book to browse through. Well laid out, lots of attractive photos and tidbits of useful information.
Part 1 covers a great deal about growing herbs which would be useful for both indoor and outdoor gardening, including choosing the right container, caring for the pots and design ideas.
Part 2 deals with the choice of herbs for a variety of projects, from culinary herbs to herbs for pollinators, to herbs for beverages, skin care and home care.
Part 3 is information on planting and caring for the herbs. I found the section on propagation very comprehensive.
I have one problem with the book though; information on the various herbs is scattered through the book. This becomes a little repetitive, and rather superficial. For example, rosemary is mentioned in almost each part, but nothing condensed into one section about how to grow it, so it is only on careful reading on the last section that you get a comment about not overwatering rosemary. I would have preferred to have very short descriptions of each herb in the projects chapter, then more detailed information on each herb and its growing requirements in a another section.
This might be a harsh criticism; the book, if seen as a starting point for a herb gardener would not be easy to follow, but for a more experienced gardener it would be a good source of inspiration.

*I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review*

This is a fantastic and comprehensive guide to container herb growing - I think a real must for beginner gardeners with any amount of space to grow in.

Goetz takes you through every element of the process of growing your own herbs - including really useful info that I've definitely not thought of previously and would explain certain plant deaths in our household.. Things like container choice and their properties and how this affects the growth of your herbs is a big one for me.

Expert gardeners are probably across a lot of the information provided, but for enthusiastic novices like myself who have all the love but not necessarily the knowledge this is a fantastic resource (and I'll be revisiting it a lot over the next few months as my garden grows)

Complete Container Herb Gardening by Sue Goetz had a lot of interesting information and nice photos. I found the layout hard to navigate though. Reading through was fine, but I think going back to reference would be a little confusing and a lot of flipping through pages.

I received an eARC from Quarto Publishing Group and Cool Springs Press through NetGalley. All opinions are 100% my own.

Quite informative! I’ve been thinking about starting a container garden since my yard is quite shaded, and this book is a perfect jumping off and jumping in point. Easy to follow guidelines. I can’t wait for spring to see what I can grow.

---Gorgeous, Informative Guide to Growing and Using Herbs--

I received an advanced review copy of Complete Container Herb Gardening from the publisher through NetGalley, and here are my thoughts.

The book lives up to its title, in that it covers all the details you need to know about growing herbs in containers. Starting from the most detailed advice I've come across about the benefits of terra cotta (how to speed up "aging" for a rustic look, etc.) versus all the myriad choices we have, including more unusual choices such as a wheelbarrow or other garden furniture.

The author writes in a helpful, detailed way about what you might encounter while growing your herb garden (changes in season, microclimates, pests), as well as ways to enjoy your herbal bounty (in food and drink, as healing herbs, in housekeeping, as support for pollinators...and much more. She seems to answer almost every question you could possibly think of.

There are also many herbs profiled in the book, all or most of which would be easy for North Americans and Europeans to obtain from their garden centers or from online ordering. So the herbs mentioned are the ones you'd likely be growing and using in your daily life, rather than an exhaustive lists of exotic herbs from around the world.

I enjoyed this book greatly. The love and knowledge of the author for this topic is evident. She is thorough and to-the-point in her advice, as well as being encouraging. She encourages the the growing of herbs for both practical reasons and for their beauty, and gives many tips on how to create containers that have healthy, attractive arrangements. I used to have a huge gardening book library, which I mostly gave away because the knowledge is now in my head. And the Internet.

This book is much, much better than anything you'd find on the Internet. Years of wisdom lovingly edited into a compact (less than 200 pages), well photographed book.

Looking forward to implementing the "bee bath" idea to provide water and a resting spot for bees.

Big Green Thumbs Up!!!!!!!

With Covid causing more of us than ever to spend time at home, there's a renewed interest in self-sufficiency and creating a more joyful environment for yourself and your loved ones to spend time (or self-isolate) in. Enter 'Complete Container Herb Gardening: Design and Grow Beautiful, Bountiful Herb-Filled Pots' by Sue Goetz.

This is a small, beautiful book and would be perfect for gift-giving.

Despite its small size, this book has admirably managed that rare balance of everything the reader needs to know for success without being overwhelmed.

Goetz walks the reader through the growing process from seed to preservation in a kind, 'you can do this' tone that's never condescending but always encouraging. Readers are encouraged to assess their space - indoors vs outdoors, full light vs low light, small vs large, horizontal vs vertical - and then select pots / planters, plants, and growing medium.

As an experienced indoor gardener who's struggled against the challenges of keeping plants alive in often quite poorly-lit flats / apartments, I find Goetz's advice spot on throughout.

There is plenty here for the seasoned gardener (grouping herbs based on mutually beneficial growing patterns, suggesting new varieties that one may not have grown before, how to arrange pleasing combinations that have a balanced shape) and the new (the pros and cons of plastic vs metal pots and planters, the different types of ceramic and stone planters, and which plants have aggressive root systems and should therefore be grown on their own), and of course those of a culinary persuasion.

A keen cook, I particularly appreciate the suggested culinary groupings (Traditional, aka familiar to most UK & US cooks; Italian; French; Thai; and 'bonus' culinary herbs one might not have thought to tackle, such as ginger).

There are instructions on how to tend herbs, how to harvest and preserve them, and small sections on how to use herbs for tisanes, well-being, and potpourri.

The only tiny consideration is that the brief section on living walls / wall-mounted containers doesn't warn the reader of the risk of mould / damp and potential for damaging masonry; I do understand this is a brief book (and a very small niggle!) but this tiny omission could be a very expensive headache for someone. That being said, the fact this is my only small complaint means the reader is in very good hands indeed.

Advance reader copy very kindly provided by Cool Springs Press.

Serviceable book on all aspects of container herb gardening. Herb profiles cover a wide variety of general herbs as well as microgreens. Herbs for specific applications (sweet herbs for drink mixes, healing, aromatherapy, beauty, housekeeping and pollinators are described. In addition to cultivation aspects, good information about different types of containers (ceramic, terracotta, metal, wood, plastic) is included. Also good advice on putting herbs together in mixed potting arrangements and how to pair pots for best effects. In addition to herbs, some related plants such as camellia, witch hazel and ginkgo are included. The book is well illustrated with photos. A good book for beginning gardeners.

I love the photos in this book but there was one element that kept me from giving it a high review. At the start of the book, the author talks about how many different types of containers can be used for growing herbs and she never points out the health hazards in some containers. She recommends repurposing "just about any container" even old containers that were not intended for plants, and does not mention that many may contain lead, cadmium and other hazardous elements. The only time she mentions the hazards of some containers at all is in the section about wood, where she says to make sure that repurposed wooden containers weren't once used to store toxins. I read through this section twice because I was sure that a book about growing herbs in containers surely must have a warning about what containers are safe (people are probably planning on eating these herbs, after all!) but there is just nothing about it. If you are growing garden plants in antique containers or *any* container not originally intended for food or gardening, you need to take that material into consideration (and even some containers designed for these purposes may contain elements you don't really want in your herbs).

That said, this is an otherwise fun book that focuses mostly on decorative aspects and then has recommended groupings of herbs with herb profiles. Growing zones are not provided for any of them. There is a little bit of information about indoor herbs, but not a lot. There's a nice section on ways to propagate herbs with some nice lists of which herbs are best for which types of propagation. I would have liked to see a lot more variety of herbs but it was a fun read and the photos were especially inspirational. Do note that this is not an herbal book in terms of providing information about growing herbs for health, just for culinary and decorative purposes.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for review.

A gentle and very thorough guide on growing anything you could imagine in a container. The herbs are categorized by their use which includes the usual culinary suspects but also herbal beverages, healing herbs, natural beauty, and herbs for pollination. This book doesn't only cover herb growing and companion planting but also maintenance and recipes for use.

Complete Container Herb Gardening is a great practical guide for gardeners of all skill levels. There is advice on everything from choosing the proper container, finding your gardening style, indoor and outdoor gardening, and projects that range from easy to difficult. There are lots of beautiful photos accompanying the detailed instructions.

Thank you to Sue Goetz and Quarto Publishing Group - Cool Springs Press for the ARC.

My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.
This herb gardening book stands out for me because of the short descriptive passages mixed in with plenty of colourful pictures of all the herbs and plants.
The author gives excellent advice on potting containers (now I know why my metal containers didn't work out - I baked the roots of my poor plants!) and suggests which herbs live well together in one pot for those of us who really are challenged for space.
There are herbs for just about every need: cooking, medicinal, ornamental, aromatherapy - even herbs to help you clean your house, chemical free!
An easy read, with plenty of excellent, bright pictures to delight the eyes and stimulate your "memory"senses. I love herbs, and cook with a wide variety of them. Sage is my favourite medicinal tea and I was so pleased to discover the many varieties of sage in this very informative book. Highly recommended!

An excellent resource for gardeners of all levels. Comprehensive and just very well done. I felt inspired and can't wait until spring to put it into practice. I've tried herb gardens in the past with small success. Now I know why. This one sets you up to get exactly what you need and want. No matter your living situation, you can benefit from this one.