Portfolio: Growing veggies in tight spaces

William Moss is all over TV promoting gardening and transformational landscapes, but you probably know him best as the host of HGTV's Dig In. He's just published his first book - about one of his favorite subjects, growing veggies in small spaces: Any Size, Anywhere Edible Gardening: The No Yard, No Time, No Problem Way to Grow Your Own Food (Cool Springs Press, $21.99).

Moss describes his intended audience this way: "everyone living in apartments, condos, town houses, dorm rooms, or trailers as well as downsizers and newbies who all want to get out and grow!"

Like many enthusiastic gardeners, he acknowledges that growing vegetables can be a tricky business. But that sentiment quickly gets swept overboard by a wipeout wave of excitement for growing "veggie all-stars" - generally compact or easily controlled plants, such as field greens, beans, cukes and summer squash, okra and peas - that don't need a lot of room to thrive.

A horticultural educator and master gardener from Chicago who grew up in South Carolina, Moss absorbed the wisdom of his mother and grandparents, and mentions them frequently. This is my favorite thing about Any Size, Anywhere. For example, he thanks his grandfather for making him mow the grass, rake the leaves, cut hedges, and pick okra when he was a kid, saying it made him the gardener he is today.

In an engaging way, Moss also channels his grandfather on a subject known for its complexity: sustainability. "Basically, it boils down to being efficient and economical," he writes, methods "the old heads just called . . . common sense."

They mulched to conserve water. They planted in succession for a bigger harvest. They used homemade compost 'cause it's the best fertilizer and it's cheap.

There may be no lightning bolts of insight here. But if you live in limited quarters, are just starting out, and want to grow most-likely-to-succeed plants, have a read.

- Virginia A. Smith