Digging in the Dirt

I am gardening fanatic. I spend the whole winter pouring over catalogs and the whole spring outside with my latest leafy finds. My beginning was fraught with mistakes and harsh instruction by Mother Nature about what goes where and what goes wild. I’ve progressed to garden themes and there is an entire area dedicated to indigenous plantings full of toads, birds, butterflies and the occasional deer. I have battled slugs, aphids, grubs, fungus and moles. My sister was with me as I caught a mole by the toe. Or, the hinder, actually. As she and I weeded and fussed over the winter weary plants, she spotted a furry visitor busily borrowing in a newly seeded area. She wanted to go over and yell at him. I said no. We walked over and I reached down and grabbed the poor mole by his backend. His little legs motored frantically and he peed all over my hand. I let him go and we laughed as he scuttled through the tall grass to safer pastures. He complained bitterly, in his squealy high-pitched mole voice, the entire way. That night, as I dreamed of Limerock Ruby Coreopsis, he completed his tunnel. This had me researching humane an organic method of ridding myself of this villainous vermin. I went to the bookstore and discovered row upon row of books in the gardening section. So many books, so little time. Especially, when all I want is to be outside gardening, not inside reading. I decided it was time to gather a list of the best books I know of on various gardening subjects. By no means complete, it gives a few suggestions that can give you a start in the right direction.

Vegetable Gardening

Square Foot Gardening; Mel Bartholomew

This book is a classic and for very good reason. This system works. It teaches you to save space, time and effort while still getting the yield you want from your veggies.

The Vegetable Gardener's Bible: Discover Ed's High-Yield W-O-R-D System for
All North American Gardening Regions; Edward C. Smith, John Storey

This is the book on vegetable gardening. Ed explains it all, from soil prep, raised beds and crop rotation to organic methods of pest, disease and fungal control. You will get massive output from you crops with the aid of this well written and fascinating book.

Herb Gardening

Rodale's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Herbs

Almost 150 herbs discussed in alphabetical order. Find out about cultivation, cooking, healing, cosmetics and natural dyes. There is fantastic illustrated detail of each herb, helpful for identification of which parts to use when harvesting.

Your Backyard Herb Garden: A Gardener's Guide to Growing over 50 Herbs Plus
How to Use Them in Cooking, Crafts, Companion Planting and More; Miranda Smith

A great book that teaches you to grow, care for, cultivate and use herbs in a backyard or patio garden. This book covers mostly culinary herbs telling the reader, which are best in sun or shade, acid or clay soil and what to plant together. A good basic book.

New Encyclopedia of Herbs & Their Uses; Deni Bown

Truly a comprehensive guide to everything herbal. Covering cultivations, site choice, garden care, propagation, harvesting, preserving, and a wonderful A-Z guide covering culinary, medicinal and cosmetic herbs. There is even history and uses through out the world. You’ll learn hardiness, which parts of the plant are used and herbs featured in mythology. A complete joy.

Perennial Gardening

Well-Tended Perennial Garden: Planting & Pruning Techniques; Tracy Disabato-Aust

A wonderful book with a month-by-month index on garden maintenance. There is extensive discussion of pinching, deadheading, blooming patterns, site selection, soil preparation, and plant disease and pest control. This is a great book for beginners, but may not have the latest hybrids experienced gardeners will want to know about.

American Horticultural Society A-Z Encyclopedia of Garden Plants

This is a great book to page through and make your choices from. It has over 15,000 entries and 6,000 photographs on annuals and perennials. It contains information on mulching, pruning, staking, propagating and over-wintering.

Perennials All Season: Planning and Planting an Ever-Blooming Garden

If you would like to have bloom all the time in your garden, this book explains how to do it. With information on planning, positioning, bloom time, color and height anyone can have constant blooms. Lots of photos, plant combinations and garden settings.

Shade Gardening

Taylor's Guide to Shade Gardening: More Than 350 Trees, Shrubs, and Flowers
That Thrive Under Difficult Conditions, Illustrated with Color Photographs and
Detailed Drawings

We all have shady areas of our yards where nothing will grow. Shade Gardening has over 250 color photos of the 350 best trees, shrubs, annuals, perennials, bulbs, ground covers, vines, ferns, and grasses for shaded areas. Subjects cover the all basics of growing plants in the shade as well as dealing with city gardens, flowers, foliage plants, pests and diseases, and lawns.

Container Gardening

McGee & Stuckey's Bountiful Container: A Container Garden of Vegetables, Herbs,
Fruits, and Edible Flowers

Live in the middle of the city? Yes, you, too, can have a garden. From the basic container choices, the right soils for the right plants and how to deal with too little/too much sun to succession planting. There is excellent information on specific plants, plus great sources for seeds and plants. With recipes and diagrams though out, this is a very complete compendium of container planting.

Problem Solving

The New York Times 1000 Gardening Questions and Answers: Based on the Column
"Gardeners Q. & A

This is a cool book! It is 1000 questions about gardening answered and answered well. Everything you need to know is in this book.

American Horticultural Society Pests and Diseases: The Complete Guide to
Preventing, Identifying and Treating Plant Problems

Everything you’d want to know about everything you never wanted to know about. You will identify and destroy all those pests and diseases with mostly organic methods. When chemicals are mentioned, proper care to prevent negative impact on you and the critters (including beneficial insects) you want to have around are discussed. There is also advice on the proper use, disposal and storage of chemicals unparalleled in other books.

Trowel and Error: Over 700 Tips, Remedies and Shortcuts for the Gardener

The book is indexed by problem, plant, pest, and solution, and includes a list of tools. It is a must have book if you’d like to conquer all those tedious and irksome problems that have been plaguing you. Using common household items and common sense, this book will teach new tricks to the expert and the beginner.

Organic Gardening

Maria Rodale's Organic Gardening (Your Seasonal Companion to Creating a Beautiful
and Delicious Organic Garden)

The perfect primer for organic gardening. This book takes you from the very basics of tearing up the grass to seasonal organization. It is full of tested techniques for gardening an family recipes that will teach you ten ways to eat a tomato.

Noah's Garden: Restoring the Ecology of Our Own Backyards

This book is about the nature of gardening. Taking the whole experience back to the basics, the author discuss how to re-create what nature intended in our yards. It’s more about un-landscaping and inviting native plants and animals back to the backyard. The author teaches the complexities of habitats and inspires a change in how a gardener views the world.

Bird/Butterfly Gardening

The Butterfly Gardener's Guide

This just released book on butterfly gardening tells you all you need to attract those beautiful winged wonders to your yard. A group of scientists, gardeners and even directors of biological preserves have come together to give their best advice on this wonderful subject. Learn to care for butterflies from caterpillar to adult, and learn to feed and shelter. There is information on migration, biology and conservation making this a must for anyone interested in the subject.

The Audubon Backyard Birdwatcher: Birdfeeders and Bird Gardens

The name says it all. Information on plants, water, supplemental feeding, bird regional bird identification (by sight and song identification). You will be able to create your own bird sanctuary with this book.

Regional Gardening

Home Landscaping: Northeast Region, Including Southeast Canada

Not just for the novice gardener and not just about hardiness, this book covers plant selection, garden design and step-by-step instruction on walkways, stone paths, walls, patios, fences, trellises, arbors and ponds.

Paradise Found: Gardening in Unlikely Places

A great book for anyone gardening in an awkward spot east of the Mississippi. Container gardening is a part of it, but the author emphasizes low maintenance plants and design for more carefree enjoyment time.

Waterwise Landscaping with Trees, Shrubs, and Vines: A Xeriscape Guide for the
Rocky Mountain Region, California, and the Desert Southwest

An excellent book for this region. It contains info on irrigation, 1,000 plants rated by water needs, 150 plants that are fire resistant, detailed plant notes and Waterwise worksheets.

Water Gardening

The Master Book of the Water Garden: The Ultimate Guide to the Design and
Maintenance of the Water Garden

The most complete book on the subject you will find. It features information on ponds, waterfalls and streams. There is a sections on plant choices, problems solving, fish, plant depth, wet and dry streams. You’ll find info on bridges, decking, walkways, lighting, propagating, liners, maintenance, seasonal upkeep and repair. There are beautiful photographs of plants to round out this book that will be a staple for all water gardeners.

Garden Décor

Making Paths & Walkways: Stone, Brick, Bark, Grass, Pebbles & More; Paige Gilchrist Blomgren

A great book that takes your through the design, laying out and construction of many types of garden paths. Full of photos and practical advice.

Decorate Your Garden: Affordable Ideas and Ornaments for Small Gardens; Mary Keen

Full of do-able and affordable ideas that are done tastefully and simply.

Garden Delights : Easy Ways to Decorate Your Outdoor Space; Ruby Begonia

Ruby Begonia had better know what she’s doing with a name like that! She covers 52 different projects for decorating your garden including mosaic stepping-stones, window shelves, hanging crystal lamps and wind shears for the patio. All can be done in a few hours.

A Garden of Love and Healing: Living Tributes to Those We Have Loved and Lost;
Marsha Olson

A very different approach to gardening. Marsha Olsen reveals the meaning of certain flowers and trees and relates how to create a memorial as simple a one tree to a whole yard.

With so many books to chose from, I hope this list helps. I have a list of links to wonderful websites below. I will mention that they can be dangerous. Don’t have your credit card nearby on the first visit or you may end up relying on your gardens yield for dinner the rest of the season.

http://www.plantdelights.com/ A great nursery site that gives a lot of useful information on the plants themselves.

http://www.gardeners.com/default.asp?SC=CNB558 Everything in the world of tools you need for a great garden. A little on the expensive side.

http://seedrack.com/ Great variety of seeds, equipment, hardiness maps for the U.S and Europe and an excellent discussion forum.

http://www.garden.org/ Regional reports, Q&A, Zone finder, article library, buyer’s guide, how-to projects, pest control library, dictionary, seed sway, a store and much more!

http://www.organicgardening.com/ Wonderful resource for organic gardening supplies and information.

http://www.gardenweb.com/ A forum for gardening discussion, a load of links, plant database and seed exchange.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/gardening/ Gardening in the UK

http://www.gardening-uk.com/ Site for UK gardeners to find everything they need.

http://www.gardenguides.com/ Fantastic reference for bulbs, annuals, seeds, vegetables anything else garden related. Tells you what has the best fragrance, what attracts wildlife, what’s the best climbing vine, what’s easiest to grow, etc, etc, etc.

http://www.citygardening.net/ As the name implies, a good site for learning about gardening in the city.

http://www.northerngardening.com/ Gardening in the great white north.

http://www.southerngardening.com/ Gardening in the great warm south.

http://www.butterflyhouse.org/gardening.html All about butterflies: how to attract, how to feed, how to care for, etc. Small font that can be difficult to read, but a great resource.

http://www.thegardenhelper.com/ All the online guide you need, from beginner to expert.

Jennifer Jordan