Here are some recently published books related to gardening. If you'd like to get free seeds from Madison Public Library, check out our Seed Library, which is available at all eight of our neighborhood libraries. We've also got printable gardening book lists for kids and adults to use alongside their seeds!
Sarah Raven and Jonathan Buckley share 30 year of learning from growing ‘for abundance, flavor and ease’. The growing year is divided into two rather than the traditional four seasons, given how the climate is changing and many crops do well sown at different times. They also touch on the idea of ‘unbuyables’ – crops that are difficult to find in stores.
Lushly illustrated and with beautifully descriptive text, The Cottage Garden is a guide to appreciating and creating plantings in the classic cottage garden design style.
With over a thousand photos of prairie plants at key stages of development, this comprehensive guide will provide the novice or experienced gardener or landscaper interested in the world of prairie plants with the means to identify, cultivate, and nurture these incredible plants. From helping bird and butterfly migrations and improving food sources for wildlife to other benefits such as a reduced need for fertilization, water, and pest control, there are many ecological and financial reasons to embrace native prairie plants.
Available to download: eBook
Stop digging and start to truly understand the needs of your soil for bumper harvests of healthier crops. Charles Dowding has spent a lifetime perfecting his no dig sysem of growing. At its core is an awareness that soil vitality is a dynamic process involving a web of organisms which we can easily feed and support, enabling our plants to grow strong and healthy, in a weed-free environment. With clear, step-by-step instructions on how to set up a no dig plot and detailed cultivation advice for more than 80 crops, this book will revolutionize the way you grow.
Available to download: eBook
You can grow beautiful, healthy, delicious veggies and herbs right from the start-just follow the trustworthy advice found in The Beginners Guide to Growing Great Vegetables. Expert gardener Lorene Edwards Forkner shares all the information you need to create a thriving garden, from facts about soil and sun to tips on fertilizing, mulching, and watering. Regional planting charts show what to plant when, and a month-by-month planner takes you from January through December. Profiles of popular edibles explain exactly how to plant, care for, and harvest your bounty. Whether your garden grows in the ground, on a balcony, or in containers on a sunny patio, this is your guide to grow-your-own success.
Available to download: eBook
Grow Your Own Spices shows gardeners of all skill levels how to grow their own spices, including ginger, turmeric, saffron, cumin, and many more.
Available to download: eBook
Create a flower haven with help from a veteran garden designer and floral expert. Floratopia showcases beautiful flower varieties, ideas for designing a gorgeous flower space, and instructions for planting and maintaining flowers that are ideal for your zone, climate, and garden layout. With 110 illustrated ideas replete with expert tips and stunning photography, this book is for gardeners of all experience levels who will be drawn in by Jan Johnsen's encouraging voice, experience, and contagious passion for garden design. Johnsen encourages you to see the potential for flowers in any outdoor area you might have. Floratopia is divided into six themed chapters containing concise, illustrated tips that will not only inform on the nuts-and-bolts level, but will also inspire and empower.
Available to download: eBook
A stunning exploration of one of the hottest trends in garden design, nature-based planting with an eco-aware approach, featuring the work of leading designers such as Sean Hogan, Piet Oudolf, and Dan Pearson. Forget the mild, manicured gardens of the past: planting today is undergoing a revolution in taste and aesthetics. This is the first comprehensive overview of a new planting approach that is wild and natural by nature, reflecting the global turn towards sustainability and the current zeitgeist in garden design. Featuring over 40 gardens - from a perennial meadow in East Sussex, England to a private, drought-resistant garden in Australia - each garden in this stunning book is brought to life with beautiful photography and insightful text.
Obsessed with houseplants? You've come to the right place. This isn't any ordinary houseplant book. In fact, there is nothing ordinary about these extraordinary plants. From growing his own collection, Tony Le-Britton of Not Another Jungle, shows you how to grow and care for the world's most sought after plants. Detailed chapters on light, water, humidity, fertilizer, variegation, propagation, and pests and diseases have you covered so you can confidently care for all your houseplants. Understanding their natural habitats empowers you to create the optimum environment in your own home so your plants will thrive. Combining detailed care advice and stunning imagery on a wide range of plants, including Monstera and Anthurium, with a special focus on desirable and unusual varieties.
The ideal, easy-to-use resource for growing healthy, resilient, low-maintenance trees, shrubs, vines and other fruiting plants from around the world - perfect for farmers, gardeners and landscapers at every scale. Illustrated with more than 200 colour photographs and covering 50 productive edible crops - from Arctic kiwi to jujebe, medlar to heartnut - this is the go-to guide for growers interested in creating diversity in their growing spaces. Cold-Hardy Fruits and Nuts is a one-stop compendium of the most productive, edible fruit-and nut-bearing crops that push the boundaries of what can survive winters in cold-temperate growing regions. While most nurseries and guidebooks feature plants that are riddled with pest problems (such as apples and peaches), veteran growers and founders of the Hortus Arboretum and Botanical Gardens, Allyson Levy and Scott Serrano, focus on both common and unfamiliar fruits that have few, if any, pest or disease problems and an overall higher level of resilience.
The McCullough's are on a mission to debunk thinking that American gardens are simply picket-lined lawns or copy-cats of esteemed European and Japanese cousins. After road tripping from sea to shining sea, they have carefully curated a list that undoubtedly proves the point. American garden designers are creating distinctive gardens with an All-American flair. They embrace the industrial grit of the Midwest, the hospitable grace of the South, the indigenous culture of the Southwest and the breezy plant palette of the East Coast. The book features profiles of 20 gardens from five regions of the country, dives into the regions' design influences, shares the back stories of the gardens and their designers, and offers information-packed sidebars with design tips and plant palettes.
Available to download: eBook
As more of us live in cities with restricted outside spaces, growing food becomes all the more important, not just for the delicious results, but as a mindful way to connect us to the seasons and to nature. Full of tried-and-tested, fool-proof crop ideas exclusively tailored for containers, raised beds and small gardens, Crops in Tight Spots guarantees vegetable growing success for even the most newbie of gardeners and limited of spaces.
The cofounder of The Cook's Garden Seed catalog inspires gardeners to plant their own heirloom gardens through twelve themed designs and offers 55 recipes for delicious entrees, sides, drinks and desserts that can be made from the items grown.
Combines creative ideas with gardening expertise specifically tailored to renters who might only have a balcony or tiny yard to create a small, beautiful outdoor oasis without spending too much money, time, or effort.
Available to download: Audio
This book covers all the essentials of growing a range of edible plants in pots, and meeting each crop's specific needs. Ratinon generates enthusiasm about raising vegetables, edible flowers, mushrooms, and microgreens, either indoors or on balconies and windowsill in this useful resource for gardeners wishing to explore growing food within a restricted space.
We no longer just want to garden, we want to engage with the land; the plants in it, the animals, insects and even the fungi. The Modern Gardener isn't just about creating a space that simply looks visually stunning, but about encouraging wildlife, reducing our carbon footprint and making our outdoor and indoor space more useful in all areas of our lives. As well as how to select and grow your plants, there is also information for how to design your garden alongside a variety of plant-based recipes, from delicious drinks to natural dyes that can easily be made at home.
A gardening guide, in the form of a graphic novel, that walks beginners through the steps of planning, planting, caring for and harvesting their first vegetable garden, along with "cheat sheets" of key facts and techniques. Kozik takes loving care with the bright visual details of the flora and fauna, drawing vegetables, weeds, and insects with specificity such that readers should be able to recognize them in their own backyards. Her art takes the book up a notch, filling what could be a dry instructional manual with verdant leafy spreads and cute cartoony details.
Plant Partners delivers a research-based rationale for companion planting, offering gardeners dozens of ways they can use scientifically tested plant partnerships to benefit the garden as a whole.
Available to download: eBook