Dear Readers,
I’ve often heard it said that you shouldn’t plant your garden till after Memorial Day…but that doesn’t mean that it’s too early to start planning for it! The following list of titles is broad enough that it should cover every type of gardener there is. Whether you’re growing veggies, caring for gorgeous blooms, or cultivating an indoor plant collection…we’ve got the book for you.
Don’t forget that we have some great gardening magazines available via Libby as well! Better Homes and Gardens and Mother Earth News are a few popular titles to start with!
Happy Reading!
-Julie, Communications & Outreach Librarian
PS: I’m also the one who pieces together our monthly newsletter and we’d love for you to subscribe! Click here to sign up!
All titles are available at Warren Public Library.
All summaries are courtesy of each book’s publisher.
The Heirloom Garden: Traditional Plants & Skills for the Modern World by John Forti
An award-winning heirloom specialist, garden historian, ethnobotanist and writer offers this wood-block illustrated, alphabetical compendium of heirloom flowers and artisanal crafts like distilling and wreath-making to help inspire gardeners to connect with the natural world. Forti celebrates gardening as a craft, and shares the plants, lore, and traditional practices that link us with our environment and each other. Arranged alphabetically from angelica to zucchini, the brief chapters are a trove of garden history to different elements of the craftsmanship behind building an heirloom garden– and a happy homestead.
Vegetables Love Flowers: Companion Planting for Beauty & Bounty by Lisa Mason Ziegler
Centuries ago before chemical fertilizers and engineered inputs, the most productive vegetable gardens shared one common attribute: the vegetables were paired up. Not with other vegetables, but with beds of beautiful flowers. Even then, gardeners knew that vegetables love flowers. Or to be more precise, vegetables love pollinators, and pollinators love flowers. Drawn by colorful, fragrant blossoms, they visit in swarms, performing their good work. And the vegetables thrive. Companion planting with vegetables and flowers is not as simple as it sounds. But if you follow the timetables, tips, and planting schedules outlined in Vegetables Love Flowers, author Lisa Mason Ziegler will show you how to keep the flowers blooming and the pollinators buzzing. Your vegetables will produce more fruit than ever and, as an added bonus, you will enjoy lovely cut flowers all season long. Who doesn’t love a happy ending?
Garden Alchemy by Stephanie Rose
Garden Alchemy is a hands-on guide for do-it-yourself gardeners who love to make things (and save money doing it!). This gardening project book is packed with creative and useful garden-related products you can make yourself. Each customizable project allows you to reduce expenses and fix common garden problems with minimal effort. Recipes for mixing your own potting soils and homemade organic fertilizers give you the freedom to choose what ingredients make their way into your garden. Step-by-step instructions for building pest traps, concocting soil tests, and constructing inexpensive DIY seed-starting equipment are accompanied by gorgeous, full-color photography. You’ll also find recipes for natural pest deterrents and growth-boosting foliar sprays to help your garden grow strong all season long.
The New Gardener’s Handbook by Daryl Beyers
From one of the experts at the New York Botanical Garden, this guide shares the science of good gardening in a design-forward, beginner-friendly way that will appeal to new gardeners everywhere. No one was born a gardener, but everyone was born to garden. Beyers has created an easy-to-follow, visually instructive handbook that teaches not only the hows, but also the whys– the proven science– of what goes into a thriving garden. Whether you’re seeking to grow your own food or fill your life with flowers, you’ll learn about soil, plant selection, propagation, planting and mulching, watering and feeding, pruning, and weeds, pests, and diseases.
Ground Rules: 100 Easy Lessons for Growing a More Glorious Garden by Kate Frey
Gardening doesn’t have to be difficult, and expert gardener Kate Frey makes it easier than ever. Ground Rules distills the vital lessons of gardening into 100 simple rules that will yield a gorgeous, healthy, and thriving home garden. In the photo-rich pages you’ll discover tips on garden design, care and maintenance, healthy soil, and the best ways to water. You’ll also learn how to create a garden that encourages birds and butterflies, how to choose healthy plants at the garden center, how and when to re-pot a container, and much more. With bite-size chunks of expert information and inspiring ideas, Ground Rules is your new go-to resource.
Practical Houseplant Book by Fran Bailey and Zia Allaway
Learn how to choose which plants to use where, care for your houseplants to keep them healthy, and use plants to best effect in your home, with trusted advice, creative inspiration, strong visual aesthetic, and practical step-by-step detail. 175 plant profiles provide information and care instructions for a wide variety of plants, including ferns, orchids, and succulents, while a dozen step-by-step photographic projects offer exciting ideas for using plants to decorate your home or greenhouse–from eye-catching terrariums to a living succulent wall to a floating kokedama “string garden.” With information on plant care, propagation, pests and diseases, pruning, and problem-solving, The Practical Houseplant Book is the essential guide for indoor gardeners.
Grow Your Own Herbs by Susan Belsinger and Arthur O. Tucker
Nothing tastes better than herbs harvested fresh from the garden! Grow Your Own Herbs shares everything you need to know to grow the forty most important culinary herbs. You’ll learn basic gardening information, including details on soil, watering, and potting. Profiles of 40 herbs including popular varieties like basil, bay laurel, lemon verbena, tarragon, savory, thyme, and more feature tasting notes, cultivation information, and harvesting tips. Additional information includes instructions for preserving and storing, along with techniques for making delicious pastes, syrups, vinegar, and butters. If you are new to gardening, have a limited space, or are looking to add fresh herbs to your daily meals, Grow Your Own Herbs is a must-have.
Attracting Birds and Butterflies by Barbara W. Ellis
A quick-reference guide to attracting birds and butterflies for gardeners with little experience and time. In the eye of a bird or butterfly, the typical suburban landscape resembles an unfriendly desert. Closely mowed lawns, tightly clipped shrubs, raked-up borders, and deadheaded flowers mean no place to nest, no food to eat, and nowhere to hide. To the humans who live there, this means no bird songs, no colorful butterflies, no dazzling hummingbirds, no night-sparkling fireflies. Creating a garden that welcomes these creatures may seem like a confusing and complicated task, but the principles involved are relatively simple. Essentially, wildlife needs food, water, and shelter, just like we do, and this lavishly illustrated guide shows which plants attract which creatures, and how to plant and care for them.
Veggie Garden Remix by Niki Jabbour
Best-selling author Niki Jabbour invites you to shake up your vegetable garden with an intriguing array of 224 plants from around the world. With her lively “Like this? Then try this!” approach, Jabbour encourages you to start with what you know and expand your repertoire to try related plants, many of which are delicacies in other cultures. Jabbour presents detailed growing information for each plant, along with fun facts and plant history. Be prepared to have your mind expanded and catch Jabbour’s contagious enthusiasm for experimentation and fun in the garden.
Container and Fragrant Gardens by H. Peter Loewer
A quick-reference guide that shows gardeners with little experience and time how to enliven spaces with containers and how to make the most of scented flowers and leaves. One of the greatest delights of a garden is a perfume that draws the visitor to bend down to inhale the fragrance. This delightful and practical book features lovely flowers with intoxicating scents that will create an aromatic garden or an indoor haven of perfumed houseplants. Growing plants in containers can extend your gardening horizons, allowing you to try plants you don’t have the space or climate to grow in the ground, as well as bringing your garden right onto the patio, deck, or windowsill. In addition to highlighting classic annuals, bulbs, perennials, vines, and woody plants that are fragrant and that do well in containers, this must-have guide offers straightforward garden care advice, including handling different soil types, controlling pests, designing and maintaining container gardens, and how to grow trees and shrubs in pots.
Gardening Under Lights: The Complete Guide for Indoor Growers by Leslie F. Halleck
Gardening Under Lights is a highly-detailed, accessible guide for seed starters, plant collectors, houseplant fans, and anyone who wants to successfully garden indoors any time of the year. You’ll learn the basics of photosynthesis, the science of light, how to accurately measure how much light a plant needs, and details about the most up-to-date tools and gear available. Also included are tips and techniques for helping ornamental plants (like orchids, succulents, bonsai, and more) and edible plants (arugula, oregano, tomatoes, and more) thrive indoors.
Glorious Shade by Jenny Rose Carey
Shade is one of the most common garden situations homeowners have, but with the right plant knowledge, you can triumph over challenging areas and learn to embrace shade as an opportunity instead of an obstacle. Turn the darkest corner of your yard into an enticing retreat! Carey shows you how to use shade as an opportunity to be embraced, rather than a problem to solve. She introduces readers to plants that thrive without direct sunshine, and teaches techniques for designing and maintaining a shade garden.
The Humane Gardener by Nancy Lawson
In this eloquent plea for compassion and respect for all species, journalist and gardener Nancy Lawson describes why and how to welcome wildlife to our backyards. Through engaging anecdotes and inspired advice, profiles of home gardeners throughout the country, and interviews with scientists and horticulturalists, Lawson applies the broader lessons of ecology to our own outdoor spaces. Detailed chapters address planting for wildlife by choosing native species; providing habitats that shelter baby animals, as well as birds, bees, and butterflies; creating safe zones in the garden; cohabiting with creatures often regarded as pests; letting nature be your garden designer; and encouraging natural processes and evolution in the garden. The Humane Gardener fills a unique niche in describing simple principles for both attracting wildlife and peacefully resolving conflicts with all the creatures that share our world.
Garden Renovation: Transform Your Yard into the Garden of Your Dreams by Bobbie Schwartz
Which changes in your garden would offer the most pay-off your time, money, and effort? Schwartz helps you assess the plants and features you have, decide the best way to tackle your project. She also provides ideas and inspirations for turning your yard into your dream garden.
Gardening with Chickens: Plans and Plants for You and Your Hens by Lisa Steele
If the title has you thinking of dressing your chickens in garden boots and gloves, think again! Steele gives you strategies for using your chickens to aerate and till the soil, and their waste products as compost. And did you know that feeding your chickens certain plants will result in orange egg yolks? Or that onions contain a toxin that, in excess, will destroy red blood cells and can cause death in hens? If you’re thinking of combining chicken keeping with gardening, there are things you need to know!
