Useful Books for the Gardening Library

My huge pile of library books is slowly going down, and I've learned my lesson about putting lots of books on hold at the library-- they all come in at the same time. So from now on I'm going to stick with reading a small number of books (1-3) concurrently, and when I'm finished with them I will borrow/purchase more. But I am happy to have found some excellent books during my library rampage. Here are my favorites of the gardening books I checked out:

Perennial Vegetables: From Artichokes to Zuiki Taro, A Gardener's Guide to Over 100 Delicious and Easy to Grow Edibles. Did you know you can grow vegetables as perennials (meaning you never have to re-plant them; they just keep growing and giving you food year after year)? Perennials vegetables are low maintenance, extend the harvest season, look nice, and attract beneficial insects, all while providing food? Edible landscaping is definitely an area I want to explore, and this book has an index of hundreds of vegetables, how to grow them, where to grow them (in the US and Canada), and how to harvest, store, and cook them. Super cool!

Great Garden Companions: A Companion-Planting System for a Beautiful, Chemical-Free Vegetable Garden. I like this book because it's about how to design, plant, and care for a companion-planted garden. Planting my vegetables with herbs and flowers is something I want to do more of next year, and Great Garden Companions is a simple and beautiful teacher.

Seed Sowing and Saving: Step-by-Step Techniques for Collecting and Growing More Than 100 Vegetables, Flowers, and Herbs. An absolute must-buy. Basically, it shows how to harvest, store, and sow seeds for each of a variety of vegetables, herbs, perennial vegetables, and annual and perennial flowers. It is so simple, well-illustrated, and easy to use. We visualize our kids using this book for homeschool future projects.

Worms Eat My Garbage: How to Set Up and Maintain a Worm Composting System. This book goes through the why's, how's, and what-if's of worm bin composting. I've been having questions about my own worm bin, and now I have a better understanding of the simplicity and usefulness of worm bins.


Salad Leaves for All Seasons: Organic Growing from Pot to Plot. I've been wondering about how to grow and use different kinds of greens. This book describes a variety of different kinds of greens, how they taste, and how to plant and harvest them during each of the seasons. To get the best flavor and production, each green needs to be planted and harvested at its peak time in its peak season. The only downside is that the author only discusses greens for mild winters rather than for sub-zero Montana-style winters.

What do you think? Have you read any of these? Which is your favorite? Please share your own review in the comments.


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