Gardening Books To Cultivate Your Green Thumb

Gardener and activist Tayshan Hayden Smith demonstrates 20 different practical projects you can create to positively change small outdoor spaces and pulls out inspiration from a variety of successful community gardens around the world. Reconnect with the outdoor space around you — perhaps start growing your own food or build a learning bed to educate children (and even adults) about the soil beneath their feet. Tayshan underpins all his practical takeaways with inspiring manifestos on why we need to improve small spaces, the environmental benefits for nature, and the wider issues around connections with growing and greening space.

Notable author and gardener Derek Fell has tried and tested thousands of varieties of vegetables, flowers, and fruits and recommends the best plants for space-saving vertical gardening. His grow-up, grow-down system also shows which ground-level plants make good companions underneath and alongside climbing plants. Best of all, many of Fell’s greatest climbers and mutually beneficial plants are available in seed packets in every local garden center.

Uncover the secret meanings behind your bouquets and floral arrangements with this stunningly illustrated exploration of the Victorian language of flowers, including the multicultural history, rituals, and mythology behind over 600 flowers, herbs, and trees. Karen Azoulay pairs 19th-century botanical drawings with electric photography, creating a one-of-a-kind flower dictionary with a contemporary, artful feel. With a foreword by Kate Bolick and a helpful sentiment-based index, Flowers and Their Meanings is both a beautiful volume and a practical guide to incorporating the language of flowers into your own life.

A colorful guide covering the basics of replacing a traditional lawn with a wide variety of easy-care, no-mow, drought-tolerant, money-saving options that will appeal to today’s busy, eco-conscious homeowner.

For the most complete, up-to-date information on starting plants from seed, turn to The New Seed-Starter’s Handbook. Written by a gardener with 30 years of experience, this updated, easy-to-use reference explains everything you need to know to start seeds and raise healthy seedlings successfully.

Discover the secrets of a naturally pest-proof vegetable garden with Great Garden Companions. Let master gardener Sally Jean Cunningham show you how to keep pests and diseases at bay with her unique companion-gardening system. By planting special combinations of vegetables, flowers, and herbs, you can minimize pest and disease problems and create a high-yielding, beautiful garden!

Renowned artist Kaz Tanahashi reveals the deep, inner spiritual connections that Zen gardens can foster, with over 75 stunning full-color photos of the masterpiece gardens of Kyōto, Japan. Through essays and commentary on Mitsue Nagase’s striking photographs, beloved Zen artist and translator Kazuaki Tanahashi presents the gardens in terms of seven qualities that arise from Zen practice: direct, ordinary, vigorous, gleaming, pivotal, nondual, and inexhaustible. Relating these qualities to the development of Zen culture and its influence on Japanese art, Gardens of Awakening invites you deep into the heart of Zen.

This lavishly photographed book from renowned floral designer Ariella Chezar provides step-by-step instructions for 39 seasonal floral arrangements and projects that celebrate the splendor of flowers, the bounty of the changing seasons, and the wild beauty of nature in your home.

A stylishly photographed guide to creating lush, layered, dramatic little gardens no matter the size of your available space – an urban patio, a tiny backyard, or even just a pot by your door.

First published in 1929, The Gardener’s Bed-Book is a much-beloved gardening classic by the renowned editor of House & Garden magazine in the 1920s and ’30s. Each of its 365 perfectly sized little essays is meant to be read in bed at night after a long day’s work, either real or imagined, in the garden.

This waterproof log book is the perfect place for recording your work in the garden.  A five-year grid at the beginning of each month offers space to note annual garden cycles over time, and journal entry pages are lined for notes or graphed for diagramming plantings. Whether you tend a window box, a cutting garden, or many raised vegetable beds, this is the perfect write-in companion to your gardening.

In A Sweet Floral Life, Natasja guides you through her creative process of flower arranging and developing your personal style, along with tutorials for seasonal arrangements, living and entertaining with flowers, and how to photograph flowers. A former fashion designer, Natasja began making flowers out of sugar to honor her African and Indonesian ancestors who worked in the sugarcane fields of Suriname. In A Sweet Floral Life, Natasja provides steps for sculpting sugar flowers, a versatile medium with limitless possibilities.

Perennial Combinations by C. Colston Burrell features plant medleys that bring color, texture, and excitement to the garden in every season. The book features 130 of the best perennial combinations with photographs of each grouping, along with a numbered photo key and plant list. Each grouping features just two to six plants; gardeners can plant the combinations as they appear for small garden spaces or they can repeat or mix the combinations for large beds and landscapes.

With growing awareness about the dangers of garden chemicals, turn to The Organic Gardener’s Handbook of Natural Pest and Disease Control as the most reliable and comprehensive guide on the garden shelf. With all-new photos of common and recently introduced pests and plant diseases, you can quickly identify whether you’ve discovered garden friend or foe and what action, if any, you should take.

With plentiful images and a distinctly modern and sophisticated feel, this book imparts both easy-to-follow advice and creative garden-design inspiration. Whether you are looking to pick a statement plant for your living room, create a terrarium centerpiece, or arrange an artful display of air plants, this book will provide the tools you need. You’ll be tempted to thumb through it again and again — for both resource and relaxation.

Mrs. Obama invites you inside the White House Kitchen Garden and shares its inspiring story, from the first planting to the latest harvest.  Hear about her worries as a novice gardener – would the new plants even grow? Learn about her struggles and her joys as lettuce, corn, tomatoes, collards and kale, sweet potatoes and rhubarb flourished in the freshly tilled soil.  Get an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at every season of the garden’s growth, with striking original photographs that bring its story to life.

Martha Stewart’s lifelong love of flowers began at a young age, as she dug in and planted alongside her father in their family garden, growing healthy, beautiful blooms every year. For the first time, she compiles the wisdom of a lifetime spent gardening into a practical yet inspired book. Learn how and when to plant, nurture, and, at the perfect time, cut from your garden. With lush blooms in hand, discover how to build stunning arrangements.

Get ready to transform your humble abode! Green up your living space with this bright, fresh, stylish introduction to choosing, displaying, caring for your new leafy friends, and designing with houseplants. Casual and easy-going, with attainable styles and simple instructions, this short and sweet book of inspiration has everything you need, and nothing you don’t, to start you off on an adventure in better – and greener – living.

The plant influencer behind Apartment Botanist proves that anyone can be a plant parent, no matter where you live, how small your space is, or how busy you are. With an emphasis on building a collection that fits your personality and lifestyle, everyone from aspiring newbies to green goddesses will find their perfect plant matches.

In The New Heirloom Garden, Ogden inspires us with a history of seed saving in this country, then guides gardeners of all levels to create their own heirloom gardens with tangible gardening tips, twelve themed garden designs, and detailed resources. The first half of the book shares specific garden plans, plant keys with descriptions, plant and seed wish lists, interviews with gardening experts, and even tips and tricks to handle your own local weather. The second half of the book contains 55 recipes for delicious entrees, sides, drinks, and desserts that can be made from each vegetable, fruit, and flower grown in your garden.

A gorgeous guide to the simple pleasures of cottage living—antique hunting, gardening, and enjoying the seasons—from Paula Sutton, a beloved British design and fashion influencer. In a world that often moves too fast, Hill House Living is an invitation to take a moment to style, make or cook something nice for its own sake—and yours. Slow down, cozy up, and join the quest to making each day more intentionally joyful.

A shaded garden can be a soothing sanctuary that even the most dedicated sun worshipper can welcome on a hot summer day. But how do you get plants to grow in a spot where trees and shrubs hide the sun? In this stunning volume, garden expert Larry Hodgson shows how to create a lush and lovely garden filled with plants that will flourish in the shade.

This luxe plant journal challenges the user to “think like a botanist”—it’s secretly educational wrapped in a stunning package. It includes 90+ entry pages to document and observe your plants through the lens of an excited and curious botanist! Author Tyler Thrasher brings the same energetic, knowledgeable voice to the journal as his fans have come to expect from his popular Instagram account.

Learn the basics of gardening in pots and containers, find small windowsill and countertop projects, and receive specific recommendations for edibles that grow well in containers. Also included are 30 simple recipes you can make with your harvest, from Zucchini Fritters to Herby Pasta with Lettuce and Proscuitto, to Rosy Strawberry Buttermilk cake. No matter how small your space, you can successfully grow edibles and then enjoy your harvest!

Long before it was a trend, How to Grow More Vegetables brought backyard ecosystems to life for the home gardener by demonstrating sustainable growing methods for spectacular organic produce on a small but intensive scale. How to Grow More Vegetables has become the go-to reference for food growers at every level, whether home gardeners dedicated to nurturing backyard edibles with minimal water in maximum harmony with nature’s cycles, or small-scale commercial producers interested in optimizing soil fertility and increasing plant productivity.

This revised edition of The Rodale Book of Composting includes all the latest in new techniques, technology, and equipment. Discover easy-to-follow instructions for making and using compost; helpful tips for apartment dwellers, suburbanites, farmers, and community leaders; and ecologically sound solutions to growing waste-disposal problems.