The Postage Stamp Vegetable Garden Book Review

The Postage Stamp Vegetable Garden by Karen Newcomb Book Review

This classic gardening bestseller (over 500,000 copies sold) uses ecologically friendly, intensive biodynamic methods to produce large amounts of vegetables in very tiny spaces. Revised for an all new generation of gardeners, the 40th anniversary edition includes brand new information on the variety of heirloom vegetables available today and how to grow them the postage stamp way. 


To accommodate today’s lifestyles, a garden needs to fit easily into a very small plot, take as little time as possible to maintain, require a minimum amount of water, and still produce prolifically. That’s exactly what a postage stamp garden does. Postage stamp gardens are as little as 4 by 4 feet, and, after the initial soil preparation, they require very little extra work to produce a tremendous amount of vegetables–for instance, a 5-by-5-foot bed will produce a minimum of 200 pounds of vegetables. 


When first published 40 years ago, the postage stamp techniques, including closely planted beds rather than rows, vines and trailing plants grown vertically to free up space, and intercropping, were groundbreaking. Now, in an ever busier world, the postage stamp intensive gardening method continues to be invaluable for gardeners who wish to weed, water, and work a whole lot less yet produce so much more.

My Thoughts:

Having a functional garden in a small place can be difficult to accomplish if you don’t know how to do it. Last year I went from having a large garden and converting that space into raised garden beds. Needless, to say I found out that I lost a lot of garden space. My back is happier but, the harvest is a bit saddening.

This is a paperback book with 217 pages. There are a lot of charts on different types of plants from seed germination to spacing, examples of many diagrams of garden plot layouts, companion planting, and other illustrations throughout the pages.

Introduction   1
Chapter 1 Planning Your Postage Stamp Vegetable Garden   5
Chapter 2 The Postage Stamp Soil Mix   35
Chapter 3 Getting Your Ground Ready   43
Chapter 4 When and How to Plant   50
Chapter 5 Watering Your Postage Stamp Vegetable Garden   64
Chapter 6 Heirloom Vegetables and Herbs You’ll Love to Grow   68
Chapter 7 Plants That Like Each Other   165
Chapter 8 Controlling Pests, Diseases, and Critters   172
Appendix A How to Compost   186
Appendix B Seed Sources   195
Glossary   204
About the Author   211
Index   212

I liked the tips throughout the book from what to do with certain plant diseases and the garden pest that eat at your garden. If you need help planning your garden layout there is a good amount of information available in this book. Four pages of container garden with illustrations.

I also learned something new about Heirloom seeds and keeping them pure. It’s too late for me to do it this year but, next year I will be rethinking how I plant my Heirloom seeds.

The Appendix has an incredible list of seed sources that I was impressed with. A nice glossary is also included.

This is a wonderful resource for the beginner gardener or someone who has been gardening for years. It would make a nice gift for someone who wants to begin gardening and not quite sure how to begin.

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this book from Blogging for Books- Waterbrook for free in order to write this review. All thoughts and opinions are mine and were not subject to editing from the publisher.