Hellstrip Gardening: Create a Paradise Between the Sidewalk and the Curb

Hadden (Beautiful No-Mow Yards) has written an excellent book for an often forgotten horticultural contingent: urban dwellers with only wee strips of dirt to work with, often between curbs and sidewalks. She offers step-by-step strategies for taking abandoned square footage of unhealthy earth and transforming it into a micro-swath of growth and bloom, and highlights unique stressors associated with this kind of gardening, including limited, often depleted soil and lack of irrigation. Such landscapes require forethought: what plants are drought tolerant? what type of root system can survive? The author also includes a helpful chapter about working with local governments, since many curbside spots are public property or easements. The greatest benefit of undertaking “hellstrip gardening,” the author notes, is that “as more gardens grow, the ideas and extra plants they generate fuel new gardens and ignite new gardeners.” This is a lively, optimistic guide to transforming dead space into a small splash of Eden, a win-win for everybody. 300 color photos. (May)