Spring has (almost) sprung and green thumbs of all ages are ready to get gardening! Whether you’re starting your very own vegetable garden or only have the space for one on your kitchen counter, this list has everything you need to read to get ready for the start of season.
The Encyclopedia of Country Living
By Carla Emery
The #1 best country, rural living, and homesteading book for beginners. For more than 50 years this has been the essential book of basic skills for living off the land. From homesteaders to urban farmers, and everyone in between, it includes a comprehensive guide to plants, how-to plan your garden, hardiness zones and soil composition, calendars by garden type, and step-by-step instructions for growing your garden.
The Colorful Dry Garden
By Maureen Gilmer
If changing climate and conservation are on your mind, here’s your how-to guide for replacing your thirty gardens with gorgeous foliage and flowers that use a fraction of the water. This design-focused gardening book is perfect for homeowners and landscapers in California and other dry regions in the Western US.
Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades
By Steve Solomon and Marina McShane
The complete guide to organic vegetable, herb, and flower gardening (now in its seventh edition!) has helped gardeners in the Pacific Northwest for over thirty-five years. Learn best practices for organic gardening—preparing soil, composting, chemical-free fertilizers, garden planning, and more—in the gentle maritime Northwest climate.
Ask Ciscoe
By Ciscoe Morris
Oh, la, la! Get all your gardening questions answered by America’s favorite gardener Ciscoe Morris. In these pages, he addresses a range of the most interesting, oft-asked, most urgent, and puzzling gardening questions from ornamental gardening and trees to vegetables, fruit trees, shrubs, lawns, containers, weeds, and more.
Golden Gate Gardening, 3rd Edition
By Pamela Peirce
The ultimate food gardening book for Central and Northern Californians, this guide is beloved by both new and experienced gardeners for its friendly, practical advice on how to grow fresh produce all year long. It covers all the bases and is the only gardening book you need.
Growing Vegetables in Drought, Desert & Dry Times
By Maureen Gilmer
Grow healthy, organic vegetables without wasting water! This incredibly timely book gives dedicated home gardeners the know-how to grow delicious produce in four different low-water conditions: voluntary water conservation, drought, and both high and low deserts.
The Children’s Garden
By Carole Lexa Schaefer, Illustrated by Pierr Morgan
In rich prose and lush illustrations, this charming picture book shows children as urban farmers, exploring the sights, smells, sensations, and tastes of growing their own food in a community garden. Young readers will enjoy this story of a multicultural community of children learning about and enjoying a sustainable, local food system.
Tiny Space Gardening
By Amy Pennington
Learn how to cultivate an edible garden in small outdoor and indoor urban spaces. You can grow vegetables, fruits, and herbs with these easy ideas, tips, and techniques. Also included are 30 simple recipes you can make with your harvest! No matter how small your space, you can grow a garden.
Grow a Damn Plant Journal
By Tyler Thrasher
Here is a gardening journal grounded in science, perfect for indoor or outdoor plants of every type. It includes 90+ entry pages to document and observe your plants through the lens of an excited and curious botanist! It’s your personal plant database that has helpful tips throughout on things like pests, fertilizer, making the perfect soil, and more!
