Top 20 Best Gardening Books of All Time

A lot of times people tend to opt for a “learning by doing” approach when picking up a new skill, and while they might be successful, a lot of the time, that approach just turns out to be frustrating and ends in giving up. One of the cases in which this is possible is gardening. 

If you wish to avoid that ordeal altogether, it may be best to initially educate yourself before actually getting to work.

The process of learning itself brings a whole new load of questions.

You see, nowadays, with online forums and blogs, nobody really thinks about turning to books, however, they’re incredibly efficient.

So if you’re looking to develop a green thumb, and ready to put in the work and reading time, we’ve put together a list of the best gardening books for you : 

1. Rodale’s Basic Organic Gardening

This book is one of the best gardening books, it is the perfect reading material for any beginner gardener.

So if you think of gardening as being a really daunting hobby, this book will help ease that fear. It’ll help you understand the best places to begin and make the whole thing seem a lot less overwhelming than you feel it is.

This is exactly the reason why this guide book particularly great.

It is aimed especially towards rookies, and points over thoroughly everything that you will ever need to know from the very basics to more complicated techniques.

It’ll help you out with everything from compost, weeds, pest control, and how to do all that with organic procedures.

This book even has a flower, vegetable, and herb, a sort of gardening dictionary that makes it easier to access related information.

A dot makes your life even easier, it even has a landscape and garden layout section. 

2. The Vegetable Gardener’s Bible, Second Edition

So you want to experiment with all new gardening methods and unconventional vegetable varieties? You need to look no further because this book will allow you to do just that.

In this book you will find innovative tips and suggestions, for example, putting your plants in raised beds and in deep dirt.

Meant to give tips for more seasoned gardeners, this particular publication includes profiles of tens of thousands of distinct vegetables and information regarding ways to take care of them.

This being said the book is accessible to gardeners of all levels, and this includes complete beginners.

3.  All New Square Foot Gardening II

The subtitle says that this is “The Revolutionary Way to Grow More in Less Space,”, and honestly, we can’t help but agree. 

Every single gardener wishes for more surface area, however instead of going out and acquiring more land, What you can actually do is optimize the space that you already have, and this exactly what this gardening book aims to help you with.

It teaches you how to a bunch of hacks to make use of however little space you have.

You’ll get many tips for vertical gardening, and about ways best to get children engaged with gardening tasks. Another thing is that the book comes with pictures as well. 

4. The Complete Houseplant Survival Handbook

Whoever said that you can only have plants if you have a garden or an outdoor space? To that, we say no, and this gardening book is here to prove it! 

Discover ways to grow more than 160 plants indoors with this fantastic handbook.

This book was put together by a master gardener whose aim is to help you learn the most effective methods to develop your green thumb.

The book is truly full of advice regarding lots of house plants, and offers expert advice about growing demands and also troubleshooting.

5. Plants You Can’t Kill

This is one of the best gardening books for newbie gardeners, those who are yet to become confident in their gardening abilities and don’t yet believe they can grow plants.

This book contains at least a hundred easy-to-grow trees, flowers, fruits and veggies that beginners will grow with minimal time and effort.

Even if you’re to be somewhat neglectful, you are going to realize you’ll still be able to take care of these plants with the tips and tricks provided. 

This book is about resilient plants, so this will be your foolproof gardening guide! 

6. Epic Tomatoes

Tomatoes, who doesn’t love them? From huge spacious backyards to tiny balcony gardens, one plant never ceases to make an appearance: The Tomato! 

They are truly emblematic, and perhaps among the most widely used backyard vegetation of most time. however, that doesn’t mean that they’re easy to grow.

So if you’re sick and tired of wild-looking tomato crops that barely produce any tomatoes, then this is one of the best gardening books for you!

It will educate you on everything you’ll ever need to know about over 200 tomato varieties, throughout every phase of planting and taking care of, them.

There is also some in-depth information about common tomato illnesses, in addition to advice about the best way best to prevent them. The book also comes with stunning photos.

7. The Gardener’s Year

When you hear gardening, the first that must come to mind in the spring. However, what this book tries to teach you is that grading is a year-long activity.

The book explains everything you ought to do on in your garden, month by month.

It gives you are a detailed set of tips tailored for every period of the year, and teaches you that if you’re not keeping up your garden all year long, then you’re doing it wrong! 

Reading this will help you learn about your lawn, trees, shrubs, plants, veggies, fruits… and even watering and greenhouses.

8. Homegrown Pantry

Flowers and shrubs are great, but one of the biggest joys of gardening is growing your own produce that you can later on consume, which is where this book comes in.

“The Homegrown Pantry” is destined for intermediate level gardeners and aims to help them grow their own vegetables, fruits, and berries.

The book gives you so many tips on how to grow and care for produce and provides tons of information about different varieties of plants. 

9. The Flower Gardener’s Bible

Now that product is all covered and out of the way it’s time to talk flowers. Flowers bring such an added value to any location in which they’re planted. It’s truly no wonder gardeners love them so much.

This book teaches you every way you can add stunning color to any space, making your yard totally stand out. 

This comprehensive guidebook covers everything that you need to learn about growing flowers.

You are going to discover ways to combat insects, strengthen your soil, and also bring more color out of your flowers

This book is also great for a wide range of gardeners, from the very beginners to the seasoned ones. and one of the best gardening books for gardeners who love colors and flowers.

10. Gaia’s Garden

It’s truly such a misconception that permaculture is exclusive to big-scale farms, when in fact it’s a totally holistic approach that can be applied in pretty much any outdoor area.

This book is a somewhat permaculture textbook, and a great one at that! 

It aims to instruct you just how to use permaculture techniques to produce improve your garden.

By using the tips from this book, you’ll not only grow a garden: you are going to produce a whole ecosystem.

Gaia’s backyard also features advice about water conservation, bugs, weeds, and birds!

11. Planting: A New Perspective

Gardens undeniably serve the purpose of making produce that can be enjoyed like food.

However, they also serve an aesthetic purpose: A well-designed garden is an absolute delight to look at. 

This gardening book is here to help you learn what you need to know about landscape designing.

It will educate on ways you can utilize ecology to make a remarkable garden.

You will get tips about deciding your yard according to plant coloring, arrangement, and feel. 

12. Let it Rot!

With the Zero Waste lifestyle being all the rage these days, composting has also become incredibly popular.

And as you become more and more experienced as a gardener, you’ll inevitably likely to start thinking about it anyways.

This book tells you everything you need to know about composting, aka, turning food and natural waste into a natural fertilizer for your soil, in order to achieve a thriving garden.

13. Vegetables Love Flowers

Companion planting is a technique you’ll probably start thinking about as you become a more advanced gardener.

What it means is planting together varieties that in some way work well together, not. Only visually, but also biologically.

By planting together two complementary plants, you are enhancing both of their turnouts.

This book teaches you everything you need to know about this process and provides you with a number of tips and tricks

14. Good Bug Bad Bug 

Biology 101. Every ecosystem needs to be balanced. And what’s a garden if not a microcosm of an ecosystem itself.

This means that when growing and taking care of flora you should also be well aware of the fauna that comes with. 

This book teaches you how to identify certain bugs that you may find in your garden and determine if said bugs are beneficial or harmful.

This gardening book with help you stay away from chemicals and maintain your garden in a healthy, and safe way.

15. Container Gardening

If you’re a little tight on space, worry not, this book is here to help. Container gardening gives you the ability to grow plants everywhere: on your deck, balcony, patio, and even directly on your front porch. 

Not only does this book teach you how to plant in containers, but it also shows you how to move them from ground soil into containers as well!

16. Growing Vegetables in Straw Bales

This may seem a little unorthodox, but believe us it works! And while it may be a bit of an advanced technique, it’s quite simple if you follow the handbook.

This book will offer you step by step tips on planting your flowers, veggies, or fruits in straw bales, in your own backyard. 

 It’ll give you information concerning watering, seeds, fertilizer, and upkeep. 

17. The Thoughtful Gardener

This will end up making a landscaper out of you! It teaches you how to design a beautiful, well-thought-out, aesthetically pleasing garden.

It comes with so many tips and tricks on how to design your garden depending on the surface area, the climate, and of course, your preferences.

18. Bees

As we all know, life as we know it wouldn’t exist without bees. Naturally, flowers and plants in general also wouldn’t exist without bees. 

Aimed at American gardeners, this gardening book teaches you ways in which you can improve your surroundings by gardening.

It’s full of extensive information about what you can plant in order to increase and encourage bee inhabitants. It’s truly a book that can help you make the world a better place!

19. The Dry Garden

Let’s face it, water scarcity is a serious issue nowadays. One way to combat that is to be more mindful of our water consumption when gardening.

Through this book, you can discover how to garden in areas with hotter climates and where water is scarce.

It provides you with loads of recommendations on how to care for plants in dry areas. 

20. The Fruit Gardener’s Bible

Fruits, sweet, delicious and seasonal, we all love them, but isn’t the idea of growing your own a little daunting? Well not anymore! 

This book is here to show you everything you need to know about grown your own fruit.

It’ll teach you about apples, blueberries, grapes, melons, and more. And suddenly growing your own fruit won’t be so scary anymore!

Conclusion

These were our 20 best gardening books recommendation list for you. We truly hope they inspire you to go out there and get to work in your garden!