Creating a spectacular garden is challenging when you thought you'd be living somewhere else by now. How do passionate gardeners struggling with limited resources manage to put aside feelings of inadequacy and envy and begin to create an oasis in the midst of numerous obstacles? Why should they even try?

In her debut book, Big Dreams, Small Garden, columnist and blogger Marianne Willburn presents a comprehensive step-by-step plan for creating an ideal garden in less-than-ideal circumstances--encouraging the discouraged to pick up their trowels, put on their gloves, and get on with...