Packed with useful and fascinating information, The Gardener’s Pocket Companion divulges many secrets, including how Joseph Paxton, designer of Crystal Palace and landscape gardener extraordinaire, rose from poverty to become a multimillionaire; which tree provided 16th-century Europeans with a cure for venereal disease; how to perform the soil fist test to determine soil type; and what Nelson Mandela grew in his prison garden. A treasure trove of gardening facts, curiosities, notes, and quotes is packed into this attractive, handy pocket-sized book.