This contest has now closed.
Pots for All Seasons by Tom Harris is a comprehensive look at filling your garden with container colour and there’s the chance to win a copy.
Being stuck at home far more than I planned this summer, I’ve really appreciated the colour from various pots on the patio. They’re easily seen from the house when it’s wet and provide the perfect ‘office view’ when I can work outside.
I generally keep it simple, potting up plants that would struggle in my sandy soil, need cossetting over winter or that I just don’t know what else to do with. The mix is eclectic from lilies for scent and eucomis for drama to pelargoniums to bring a touch of the Mediterranean that I won’t see this year.
Aside from tulips for spring, I don’t do much in the way of planted containers outside of summer so I was interested to read Pots for All Seasons to see if I was missing a trick.
It is the latest in a number of container gardening books I’ve reviewed and I was dubious about what it might add.
For me, it started badly as I found the introduction over-complicated and wordy. I very nearly didn’t continue reading but I’m so glad I did. Once the book moves on to the mechanics of container gardening, the prose lightens and the author’s enthusiasm is evident.
Pots for All Seasons opens with the idea of ‘making pictures’ with pots, discussing themes, colour and how to arrange them. Rather than just randomly placing them, we should think of a container garden as a border and plan accordingly, even down to pot size.
“Matching plant and pot so they appear in proportion is important,” we’re told.
Some pots, we are told, are better raised up to catch the light or allow plants to be examined closely. Grouping them can allow contrasts in texture or shape. Tom even suggests using ‘props’ such as old watering cans or mossy stones to complete the arrangement.
The bulk of the book is devoted to suggestions for each season and this proved my favourite section.
An exhaustive array of ideas from summer pots of edibles to festive containers are all illustrated with Instagram-worthy photos that, along with informative captions, are perfect for inspiration.
Choosing the plants is just one part of the job though and everything from the type of pot to soil and how to plant is also covered. There is also discussion on how to care for pots, including watering, repotting and pest control.
It seems that almost anything can be grown in a pot, at least for a season. I’m already starting to look at my collection with fresh eyes.
Pots for All Seasons by Tom Harris is published by Pimpernel Press, RRP £20. Photographs copyright Tom Harris. You can buy the book here. (If you buy through this link, I get a small commission. The price you pay is not affected.)
Prize draw for one copy of Pots for All Seasons
This giveaway was won by Claire Fraser. Thanks to everyone who entered.
I have one copy of the book to give away. To enter, just leave a comment about why you would like a copy at the end of this post. Entries close at noon (BST) on Tuesday July 7. The winner will be randomly drawn from the entries and notified by email. If I do not get a reply by noon on July 14, a new winner will be drawn.
T&Cs One comment per person. This draw is open to UK residents only. This competition is promoted by The Chatty Gardener and is not open to employees of Pimpernel Press or relatives of The Chatty Gardener. By posting a comment, The Chatty Gardener will have access to your email address. This will not be made public or used for anything other than to contact you, if you are the lucky winner. The results of the draw will be posted on The Chatty Gardener.
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Afraid our soil is also very poor being mainly sand and stones despite the tons of manure, fertiliser and compost we’ve added over the years. I do use various pots to grow summer bedding, lilies, dahlias, fuchsias and have even resorted to growing roses, quite successfully, in large containers. I also have five raised beds around the garden predominantly for vegetables and Sweet Peas. I would be very interested for more ideas in Tom’s book on container gardening.
Thank you for a most interesting gardening blog.
Well, it’s certainly full of ideas. I do sympathise with the soil – sand may be easy to dig but it’s not easy in many other ways.
If you’d seen my patio you’d know why I need this book! Currently an array of random pots, buckets and plants in no particular order, it would definitely benefit from some organising….
It’s surprising the difference it makes. I moved a few around the other week – as the corner of the patio is now my office view – and it immediately looked better.
I would love a copy of the book. It seems to be written in an innovative style with quality pictures and sound information.
I have a vast quantity of pots to fill and tend to be conservative in planting. This book would make me plan more creatively.
It certainly has some great ideas – not just for plants but for containers as well.
Having just moved house, we are benefitting from the patio and spaces around the garden that we didn’t have access to before. We hastily purchased some pots and plants early in the year, but they look somewhat haphazard in their arrangement. Plants were acquired and placed into pots that seemed to be the right size, with some being moved to larger pots as they grew. Our plans are to reorganise the garden, in particular the patio, to create another ‘room’ and reap the benefits of the space next year.
Pots are such a great way of growing a wider range of plants and breaking up the necessary but often unappealing paving in a garden.
A copy of this book may be able to assist me in arranging may numerous pots into some kind of aesthetic dispays.
I’ve certainly been looking at mine and moving them around. Less of a jumble, more of a planned display!
This looks like a great book, I love my pots but as a relatively inexperienced, albeit enthusiastic, gardener I tend to stick with the same plants and combinations year after year. I’d love some inspiration to mix it up and try some new ideas!
It is so easy to stick with the tried and tested.
This book looks inspirational and the idea of incorporating props to enhance the effect is genius. I do some pots all year round and get particular pleasure especially in winter when colour is at a premium. During lockdown I allowed an obsession for perennial violas to take hold when I discovered a specialist nursery online and ordered half a dozen in early April. The pleasure they have given me during this incarceration was worth every penny. They looked so pretty grouped in pots. I would dearly love a copy of this book. 🤞❤️
I was so glad I filled several pots with tulips – they were so welcome early on.
I have a 35m2 terrace which is filled with pots and troughs, but apart from giving colour there’s no story. I could really do with this book to help me out. I think I under estimate the size of mature plants and put them in undersized containers.
I think that’s something we all do – I’m particularly bad at putting things too close together in borders.
I would love a copy please! My Dad died last year, and when his house finally sells I will inherit a load of pots that I would love to fill in his memory.
Sorry to hear about your dad but what a lovely way to remember him.
I would love a copy of the book for my wife. I’m a massively keen gardener and she’s never shown much interest in getting involved, she just loves the results. However recently she’s decided she wants to brighten up the front of our house with pots but she’s lacking the confidence to give it a go. I’m reluctant to do it as I’d love her to get the gardening bug and I’m sure a book like this will help build her confidence. There’s no doubt that gardening has helped me mentally to get through the current crisis and I know she’d benefit as well.
It’s lovely to hear about people taking up gardening in lockdown – my OH has spent more time out there than me!
We started our garden in lockdown as we moved in the month before. Tooks us ages clearing it out but when we did we discovered borders, paving and gravel. Quite a surprise. At the start I planted a couple of pots with what I could get my hands on given the garden centres were all closed and tbh it looks a bit of a shambles just now. But it’s brought me much joy at a time when my industry has collapsed and getting back to work anytime soon doesn’t look too hopeful. I’ve started to make a proper plan for next year. This book would help me no end. X
I think gardens have been the saviour of many of us during lockdown. It sounds like an exciting project!
I create lots of pots in my workplace but I’m always looking for more inspiration and to see what everyone else is doing. I spotted this book in gardens illustrated recently so would love to give it a look 😍
It’s certainly full of great ideas.
Having had no previous interest in gardening and after living in our home for 2 years this lockdown suddenly awakened a real desire to add something pretty and calming to our garden for us and our teenage girls. We have started with a range of pots and I love them but…. there is something missing. This book may just be what I need to find what it is!
There are so many people who have started gardening in lockdown. It really has been an unexpected good thing to come out of it.
Growing garden plants in pots successfully is the last frontier for me. Despite having nearly 200 house plants, some of which I have managed to keep alive and thriving for more than 15 years, I still can’t get the hang of growing in pots outdoors. I hope that this book will help me to cross this final frontier.
Having grown up in northern Europe with very different soil, climate and pests, it took me some time to get used to gardening in Britain. Now, 20 years later, I think I have finally cracked it. The answer is actually surprisingly simple. Poor soil – mulch. Too many weeds – double mulch. I have even achieved less slug and snail damage by mulching with bark as decomposing bark provides habitat to predatory beetles that eat slug and snail eggs.
However, I am yet to figure out how to keep garden plants alive in pots for more than a couple of years.
Sound as though this could be just the book for you then 🙂
I’m new to gardening and I’m always learning new plants, tricks and ideas. We took out the old front porch and replaced it differently. Now we have a new area that I plan on putting patio squares down because I hate weeding. I want to create a sitting area with a potted garden. I hope it will be a beautiful nook that I could hide away in. This book would definitely help me get started and give me placing ideas.
I’ve really enjoyed having pots of colour this year. It’s a great way of brightening up paving.
We’ve recently transformed our garden by removing the lawn and adding a greenhouse as our main feature. Pots now feature heavily in the garden. I love the versatility of them. This book would definitely give me some much needed advice and inspiration for more pots (I don’t think you can ever have too many!)
Great article as always 🙂
You definitely can’t have too many pots! I love the idea of a greenhouse as the main feature.