The Container Kitchen Garden Book Review – Build a Lush, Edible, Container Garden
- Details
- Category: Haute This Issue
- Published on Monday, 09 November 2026 13:37
- Written by Janet Walker
The Container Kitchen Garden, from Cool Springs Press and Quarto Publishing Group, and Scandinavian author Claus Dalby, provides gardeners with the confidence to grow an entire vegetable garden, absent of any acreage, using only grow pots.
Often called the "Martha Stewart of Scandinavian," Claus Dalby, across the 264 pages, introduces a global trends that marries downsizing, limited space, with the desire to maintain a lush edible garden, filled with all the vegetables one can consume.
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Dalby introduces himself by reflecting on his once big gardening experiment. Having recently moved to the country, he had envisioned an overflowing garden, filled with beautiful colors, reds, golds, greens, and as he explains, "In the spirit of "Fortune favors the bold" and "ignorance is bliss" I assumed that growing vegetables and herbs wouldn't be that difficult." He goes on to explain that once the garden began to sprout the entirety of nature's inhabitants also found his garden inviting and what began as his first big, bold, gardening experiment ended and he decided no more gardens.
Thirty years after his first failed attempt at gardening, he decided to give it another try. Only this time, without the actual garden. The Container Kitchen Garden is more about growing a medium sized harvest, and for some, it is a chance to have fresh tomatoes or herbs available without popping down to the grocery store.
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The Container Kitchen Garden, is presented across five chapters, including "The Growing Process," "Planting," "Care" "To Use and Enjoy" and "Plants."
Chapter One, "The Growing Process," Dalby provides gardeners with enough learned wisdom of a sage, types of seeds, how to sow, and provides and a double page chart on when to sow and harvest any variety of vegetables from cucumbers, Tuscan kale, Jerusalem artichokes, to brussels sprouts, bok choy, tomatoes.
Dalby doesn't leave gardeners without further insight he offers insight into nurturing seedling in growing trays, how to use grow lights, and keeping with his general idea of downsizing he introduces a smaller basically, 4 x 4 greenhouse that provides additional growing space in climate not suitable for year round outdoor growing.
Chapter Two of The Container Kitchen Garden, introduces readers to the obvious next step in gardening "Planting," and offers suggestions on several types of containers that are readily available at any gardening or home improvement store.
He also explains that container gardening isn't limited to the round clay or plastic pots and can also mean long gutter type rectangle crates or boxes. He also mentions balcony planters, and planting bags, which are relatively new.
While Dalby doesn't focus on the idea of aesthetics in this "Planting," chapter he does explain in more detail in Chapter Four, "To Use and Enjoy." However, the images he provides show a variety of planting containers, the use washtubs and buckets can also be used as planters and to provide that rustic charm.
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Now that containers are ready, and seedlings have sprouted, repotting the tender shoots into new homes will need soil, and Dalby explains the importance of soil and answers the question of reusing soil once it has served its purpose with a single plant.
Throughout Chapter Three, "Care" walks readers through the water stage and use of fertilizers and "bolting," or growing to fast and then the plant fails to produces the ideal, full grown, edible vegetable. As we reach Chapter Four, "To Use and Enjoy," he presents his ideas on aesthetics and the use of missing flowers with the vegetables and furnishes some attractive choices that will add vibrancy to the patio garden.
Chapter Five, "Plants." Over the next 176 pages we see Claus Dalby in his element. Not only does he provide vibrant images as visual aids for the readers, but he also walks readers step-by-step through the growing process for each of the vegetables and fruits listed.
"Plants," is an exhausted chapter that will supply readers with the wisdom of a garden guru. He also includes all types of berries, and fruit trees, including apples, pears, plums, sweet cherries, and figs. He completes the "Plants" chapter by furnishing readers with the growing process needed for a variety of herbs from the most commonly used, parsley, thyme, and rosemary to the rare types of herbs such as glasswort, cola plant, and sorrel.
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The Container Kitchen Garden, by author Claus Dalby, with more than 300 attractive, colorful, and vivid gardening photos provides the readers with the knowledge and the approach, style, and system to unite the implementing a container garden idea with a solid plan of action.
Dalby also provides practical guidance, creative planting ideas, expert technique, and inspiration for small-space gardening, And he does bestow simple reasons for the use of container gardening. To put it simply there is no weeding, and the trend of downsizing doesn't mean letting go of everything one loves, pampering, flexibility, a lush mix of vegetables, and the use of containers provide the perfect opportunity to introduces children to the idea of planting, growing, and tending their own plant.
Moreover, clay pots and growing containers are perfect for the city dweller, those with limited space, and those who love gardening and are unable or do not desire to tend to a large gardening space.
The Container Kitchen Garden is available online at Quatro Publishing and in book stores.
Title: The Container Kitchen Garden.
Author: Claus Dalby.
Language: English.
Release Date: November 3, 2026.
Publisher: Quarto Publishing/Cool Springs Press.
Cover Image: Henrik Mikaelsen.
Page Layout: Marissa Mikolaities.
Images: Used with Permission.
Length: 264 pages.
ISBN: 13-978-1-57715-755-7.
MSRP: $35.00 (U.S.), £27.00 (UK), $45.99 (CAN.).
Janet Walker is the publisher, founder, and sole owner of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category and was persuaded to withdraw the submission. Under the banner of her production company, HL Productions, LLC, Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She has also published "Unholy Alliances: A True Crime Story," and "Days, Times, Seasons, and Events: A Collection of Poetry & Prose," which can be purchased here. She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, the National Writers Union, and a member of the International Federation of Journalists.
