I love gardening books. I am always on hold for them while they are still on order, wait for months, and I browse and flip pages every quiet moment when they come in.I think for me the gardening books I like the most are more about the garden as a whole living organism - gardens mixed and intermingled with edibles growing seemingly wild and dense yet somehow also looking neat, organized and healthy. I also like finding those books which have information such as grids and calendars for seed starting, calculating how much space and how many plants you need, and how to save seeds. These are the books that don't often have photos, but they help me wrap my head around the planning. I most often read garden books for inspiration during these last few months of winter and don't often go back to read anything during the actual growing season, soI relish turning their glossy pages and seeing beautiful photos.
Here are just a few in my pile right now (I have to pick only a few - really - it is hard to stop myself from listing dozens!!!!) - ask me next week and my list will change, but I am enjoying these:
Mini farming for self sufficiency by Markham, Brett L.
The organic gardeners handbook by Tozer, Frank.Grow organic Dorling Kindersley
The great vegetable plot : delicious varieties to grow and eat by Raven, Sarah.
New kitchen garden : organic gardening with herbs, vegetables, and fruit by Caplin, Adam.
McGee & Stuckey's the bountiful container : a container garden of vegetables, herbs, fruits, and edible flowers by McGee, Rose Marie Nichols.
And my current favorite, which is much more than just a gardening book:
Gardening at the Dragon's Gate: At Work in the Wild and Cultivated World by Wendy Johnson
Of course if you ask 20 people to recommend a nice gardening book, you will get 20 answers. What is your favorite gardening book right now?
I have many more gardening books in my reading list (shows only a few at a time, but there are a lot in there!).
13 comments:
I'm so excited to plan our first garden this year and all your wonderful book recommendations are helping!
I think in order to inspire Owen and get his input we may draw our first garden plan today!
Ack! Gardening at the Dragon's Gate is one of my FAVORITES! I'm currently reading it now. I've never met anyone else who even had that book! :) It's wonderful, isn't it?
I'll have to check some of these out. Thanks for the picks!
Jennifer
I am loving "Roots, Shoots, Buckets, and Boots." I just got it back out from the library--I had it checked out most of last summer. I'm thinking this is a book I need to actually break down and BUY.
I'm a garden book junkie too. Love them! Thanks for sharing.
Barbara - Oh, we love that book too. We have grown the sunflower house a few summers and plan to do the teepee this summer. Great book!
I just picked up Four Season Gardening, a book you recommended months ago, at the library yesterday. You recommend some wonderful books and I'm appreciative of you doing so. I had dreams about composting and raising ducks after reading Four Seasons last night. :)
What a great list. As soon as we are over the FLU, I am off to the library. Thanks and Blessings.
Eliot Coleman's books always seem to be the "go-to" books around. Lately I have been shunning gardening books, does that make me a bad farmer? I don't want to read anything about gardening...I think you would be a much better farmer than I am.
Lisa Anne - Oh, but I saw some photos of your farm last summer...you have a golden touch. I think with farming it must be so intense during the growing season that you relish those cold months between.
And, oh, I'd love to have a nice big chunk of earth to grow on. Some day, perhaps...
i love gardening at the dragon's gate! i've been dreaming of visiting tassajara for the past 10 years and i really enjoyed reading her book.
I am picking up a couple of the gardening books on your sidebar. Thank you for the recommendation. I cannot wait to find a comfy spot and read them.
Right now I'm in love with "How To Grow More Vegetables" by John Jeavons. But I'm always looking for more. Thanks for the suggestions! :)
~Tara
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