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There's something refreshing about a gardening book that doesn't start out with soil. Smith (author of The Bountiful Solar Greenhouse) puts off the nitty-gritty subject until chapter nine. In the meantime, he covers such subjects as vegetables, flowers and herbs, light and temperature, ground beds and containers, and crop spacing and scheduling.

This is not a complicated book; the operative word for it is "companion." And while some of the advice is rather elementary, it does lead the reader painlessly through the steps and requirements of owning and gardening in a greenhouse. Undoubtedly, Smith's role as a lecturer and host of a radio gardening show has also inspired him to write in terms simple enough for beginners. His saving grace is a quiet sense of humor that's evident throughout the book--from his warnings about weather to his "biased opinion of hydroponics."

When Smith does get around to soil, he goes at it from the point of view of providing plants with a healthy root system--covering soil pH and nutrients and organic soil amendments in beds and pots. An extensive final chapter is devoted to everything that can go wrong--i.e., pests and diseases, for which Smith recommends mostly organic and biologic controls. As he points out, a "greenhouse or sunroom garden is probably the closest garden you'll ever live with." This is a book to live with. Illustrated. Garden Book Club alternate.

Paperback: 544 pages