Library

Over the years I have accumulated some very good books on gardening, sustainable living, wildlife, etc. Her are just a few of them. I’ll add more as I collect them.

I’m not affiliated with any booksellers so I am not pushing these to make any money on them. I truly find that they are a good sources of information.

The Vegetable Gardeners Bible - 2000

Edward C. Smith

Smith writes about organic gardening in staggered planting in raised beds. He covers his system, from soil preparation to companion planting and compost. For beginners, he takes the mystery out of such subjects as hardening off ("like a little boot camp for vegetables") and deciphering the shorthand used in seed catalogues. An abundance of photographs (most of Smith's own garden) visually bolster the techniques described, while frequent subheads, sidebars and information-packed photo captions make the layout user-friendly. The book concludes with an alphabetically arranged listing of vegetables and herbs in which Smith offers advice on every aspect of cultivation, as well as a selection of the most flavorful varieties. Smith doesn't necessarily break new ground here, but his book is thorough and infused with practical wisdom and a dry Vermont humor that should endear him to readers.

Backyard Berry Book - 1995

Stella Otto

Here’s hands-on advice from a professional horticulturist and experienced fruit grower to help gardeners create an edible landscape. "The Backyard Berry Book" provided all the information that backyard gardeners need to grow strawberries, rhubarb, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, lingonberries, currants, gooseberries, grapes, and kiwi fruit. Includes details on soil nutrition and testing; disease, pest, weed, and bird control; and trellis design. A trouble-shooting section and Seasonal Activity Calendar will help ensure success.

Complete Book of Edible Landscaping - 1982

Rosalind Creasy

She began her career in horticulture in the 1970s as a landscape designer and restaurant consultant. By 1982 she had published her first book, The Complete Book of Edible Landscaping, which won the Garden Writers Association’s Quill and Trowel award, was chosen as a Book of the Month selection, and hailed by The Wall Street Journal as the best garden book of 1982. Considered a classic, it coined the term “Edible Landscaping,” now a part of the American vocabulary.

Four-Season Harvest - 1999

Eliot Coleman

This instructional manual explains how to create an abundant garden in a cool climate throughout the year. Author and noted plant expert Eliot Coleman explains, step by step, how garden devotees can take their outdoor summer gardens through the dead of winter.

Garden Insects of North America - 2004

Whitney Cranshaw

Garden Insects of North America is the most comprehensive and user-friendly guide to the common insects and mites affecting yard and garden plants in North America. In a manner no previous book has come close to achieving, through full-color photos and concise, clear, scientifically accurate text, it describes the vast majority of species associated with shade trees and shrubs, turfgrass, flowers and ornamental plants, vegetables, and fruits--1,420 of them, including crickets, katydids, fruit flies, mealybugs, moths, maggots, borers, aphids, ants, bees, and many, many more.

How to Grow More Vegetables

John Jeavons

Now, with the recent release of the seventh edition of How To Grow More Vegetables, the best book on GROW BIOINTENSIVE® gardening just got even better. Whether you have an older edition or have never read this book before, the new improved seventh edition with a foreword by Alice Waters is the gardening book you need and will come back to time and time again.

New Victory Garden - 1987

Bob Thomson

The book is broken down by months with a long list of vegetables for planting, tending, and harvesting for each month as well as other garden tasks.

Rodale's garden insect, disease & weed identification guide - 1988

Miranda Smith

This book is a one-volume field guide to everything that could go wrong in your garden. With this book in hand, you can identify every major insect, disease & weed right in the garden. This guide brings you even more; it's also a valuable reference on the life cycles of insects, diseases & weeds, the plants they affect and the latest organic control to keep them in check.

Secret Life of Plants - 1989

Peter Tompkins & Christopher Bird

Quite possibly one of the most engrossing books pertaining to biology and symbiotic relationships between plants and humans ever written. Described as "A fascinating account of the physical, emotional, and spiritual relations between plants and man."

Worms Eat My Garbage - 1997

Mary Appelhof

A new edition of the definitive guide to vermicomposting--a process using redworms to recycle human food waste into nutrient-rich fertilizer for plants. Author Mary Appelhof provides complete illustrated instructions on setting up and maintaining small-scale worm composting systems. Internationally recognized as an authority on vermicomposting, Appelhof has worked with worms for over three decades. Topics include: bin types, worm species, reproduction, care and feeding of worms, harvesting, and how to make the finished product of potting soil.

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Next phase in Spring garden preparation: Ordering Seeds

The piece of furniture I share my office with is a desk secretary that collects all of my ‘to do’ stuff. This morning it finally caught my attention. It has become unsightly with its catalogs to go through, books to read, and snacks to eat.

Due to this weekend’s cold, wintry forecast, predicted high winds and high snowfall, I think the time has come to dive in.

Spring catalogs are no stranger to this household. Over the years of gardening and non-gardening (anyone who has read this blog for any length of time knows I have not been able to garden every year, but my heart has always been there) I have come to expect no less than seventeen seed catalogs to fill my mailbox and secretary desk. This year is no exception.

The old standbys are Gurney’s Seed & Nursery Co., Stark Bros., Stokes and Burpee Gardening. I order my fruits and vegetables from these catalogs pretty much exclusively. They have all been great suppliers of the tried and true varieties and I go through them comparing prices and looking for new varieties.

Since this past year was the first time I really jumped into perennial flower gardening I have become acquainted with White Flower Farm, Bluestone Perennials, Springhill, Jackson & Perkins, Michigan Bulb Co., Wayside Gardens, and Parks Seeds. A couple of others have arrived that I have not asked for, my best guess is they were sold my name and address by one or more of these other seed companies in an entrepreneurial fit that I wish I could be a part of. After all, it is my personal information. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to sell your own name and address the way these companies do? Why should they alone make money off of your personal information? I gave them my information for the sole purpose of conveniently purchasing from them in my own home not so they can profit from my information. Anyway, subject for another post.

Pricing can be confusing when looking at different catalogs. An example, Wayside Gardens sells Hydrangea Annabelle for $24.95 while Bluestone sells the same plant for $10.95. Pretty obvious which is the better buy, right? Until you examine the plant size that they are selling you. The Wayside Hydrangea is in a gallon container, the Bluestone Hydrangea is in a ‘jumbo pot’ which stands 5” tall and therefore the plant is fairly small.

White Flower Farm weighs in with six varieties of Hydrangea, but they are not your run of the mill offerings. Their shrubs come in one gallon containers at $29.95. This higher price seems to run true with everything they offer, so I have never purchased from them.

To cloud the picture even further, Bluestone offers 24 varieties of Hydrangea, Wayside offers 15 varieties, and White Farms offers 6.

My point is, these seed/plant catalogs do not all offer the same plant, nor do they all come in the same size containers and therefore it is not easy to make an informed decision in order to get the most for your money.

What I like to do is go through each catalog, after tossing out the expensive ones, marking plants I want with a yellow highlighter. The second and subsequent passes start bringing my selection list more into reality with my budget and then space available.

I also keep a spread sheet of plants I have seen in magazines, books, and blogs that I want and then look for these in the catalogs. I don’t always find them which tells me there are other catalogs lurking about that I know nothing of. Gasp! Just how large of a stack can I create?

This brings up another point, I have always done my ordering online. True, way back when, I ordered some seeds from catalogs before the internet, shiver, that was a long time ago. Anyway, why do I even receive catalogs in the mail? It is more convenient to look at the gorgeous pictures that all of these suppliers are producing and I am thankful for that. But I can see the same images online unless my computer breaks down. On second thought, maybe I shouldn’t even go here.

There are also the garden supply catalogs, Gardeners Supply Company, Audubon Workshop, Gardens Alive, and Lee Valley, just to name a few. These each have some great tools, supplies and general garden accessory stuff.

Oh by the way, I bought a copy of The Bountiful Container by two ladies whose love of container gardening shines on every page. Rose Marie Nichols McGee (of the Nichols Garden Nursery clan) and co-author Maggie Stuckey have written a book that I find very informative and has inspired me to fill my back deck with their suggestions. They cover what they call Hardware (containers, trellis, tools, storage) and Software (soil, seeds, plants) and present chapters on vegetables, herbs, fruits and edible flowers in a very easy to read dialogue. This has become one of my favorite garden books.

Another book on the desk is Basic Country Skills by John and Martha Storey. This book is a ‘practical guide to self-reliance’, it says so right on the cover. After skimming through it I am struck by its range of topics. It covers everything from building your own country home to designing, building and maintaining your garden, yard and orchard. Their purpose for this book truly is self-reliance. Topics also include using your produce in country recipes, preserving your harvest, and everything you want to know on how to raise farm animals. A must have for anyone wishing to break away from city living.

As far as what I am going to plant this year, well, that’s what cold winter days like this are for.

The snow outside has been steadily falling (and piling up) so its either shovel the walks, again, or read. My cozy easy chair looks awfully inviting, I think the sidewalks and driveway will have to wait a few more hours. Besides, I always have snacks to attend to.

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