My Favorite Gardening Books
Five years ago, I still considered myself to be a hopeless black thumb. Today, I’m continually surprised by the hundreds of plants I’ve grown from seed and kept alive. Vegetables, herbs, houseplants– my house is now filled with greenery. (You can read more about how I reformed my black thumb here.) So what changed? Knowledge! Today I’m going to share my favorite gardening books for beginner gardeners.
The Postage Stamp Vegetable Garden- by Karen Newcomb
I got this book in a thrift store and I love it. It’s an older book (as many of the great ones are) that is great for learning how to turn a small space into a thriving garden. You can find it here.
Carrots Love Tomatoes- by Louise Riotte
This book is an oldie but goodie, and is by far my favorite gardening book. It clearly outlines how to companion plant and why. I reference this book every single time I add something new to my garden. The book has categories for vegetables, herbs and flowers and my copy is completely covered in pencil notes and highlighter. It’s definitely well-loved. You can find it here.
Gaia’s Garden: A Guide to Permaculture- by Toby Hemenway
This book made the list of favorite gardening book list, but was not exactly a “beginner” book. The contrary- it was more like getting a drink of water with a firehose. The reason I needed to add it was because it was a game changer for growing my permaculture knowledge. Everything you ever need to know about plant guilds, companion planting and gardening a sustainable food forest is covered in this book. Reading it really got my wheels turning for the potential of my property. You can find Gaia’s Garden here.
Tea Gardens- by Ann Lovejoy
I found this little gem secondhand in the most adorable plant shop while visiting Summerville, SC. My actual tea garden was just a blooming idea, and this book gave me a more complete vision and a million potential ideas. (You can read about my tea garden here.) In it, photographer Allan Mandell shares the most gorgeous photos of tea gardens across the world. I highly recommend reading it before planting a tea or herb garden. You can find it on Amazon here.
The Tiny But Mighty Farm- by Jill Ragan
Jill is adorable on social media. I first discovered her by listening to a podcast and loved how much energy she has and how much joy she finds in what she does. In her book, she details how she grows her garden in easy terms for a beginner. I’ve read this book cover-to-cover multiple times, and each time I glean something different from it. You can find it here. It is also available on Kindle Unlimited, if you have a subscription.
What books do you love that I don’t know about? Leave me a comment below with your favorite gardening book!
This post contains affiliate links that help me earn a commission to create content at no additional cost to you.
