Gardening Books for Beginners
January 29, 2010 by admin
Filed under Gardening Tips
Gardening gains new enthusiasts each year, from children learning alongside a parent, to adults looking for a rewarding new hobby, to retirees who finally have the time to stop and smell the roses. There are a number of very helpful gardening books for beginners, and we bring you some wonderful choices to get you started:
1. Gardening for Beginners, by Wolfgang Hansel: It is what it purports to be! This luxuriously illustrated guide features 350 color photos and illustrations that teach and encourage with examples from every topic discussed. New gardening enthusiasts will have terms and concepts clearly explained, and will gain an understanding not only of what steps to take to produce a healthy, productive garden, but why each step is necessary. The novice will learn about the right tool, preparing the soil for optimal production, fertilizers and compost, planting, irrigation, and more. A detailed section profiles over 150 flowers, shrubs, and grasses. Great for beginners, but lots here the veteran gardener will benefit from.
2. Gardening Basics For Dummies, by Steven A. Frowine: While we would never suggest the title refers to you, we are confident the beginning gardener will enjoy this comprehensive overview of gardening fundamentals. This book assumes no previous knowledge, so concepts are thoroughly explained. Soil issues, bed design, choosing flowers, shrubs and trees, and proper plant care are given detailed exploration. The section on selecting the right annuals and perennials is excellent, as is the instruction on cultivating an organic, edible garden. Children will love the chapter on creating a little garden for them to learn in, and the discussion of plants that will attract butterflies to the garden. Novice gardeners will feel like geniuses when finished with this book, and will produce gardens to prove it.
3. Joy of Gardening, by Dick Raymond: This popular television gardener has thousands of fans grateful that he decided to put his vast knowledge into print. The book expertly covers all the basics of gardening, from soils, to seed and plant selection, to composting and irrigation, to pruning and harvesting. But Raymond’s real love, vegetable gardening, is the subject of the book’s most helpful and inspiring sections. Many photos and drawings deliver illustrations that bring his teaching and methods to full-color life. Beginners to master gardeners will find the help they need to produce fantastic gardens from the first scratch of the soil.
4. You Grow Girl: The Groundbreaking Guide to Gardening, by Gayla Trail: This quirky, chatty book is aimed at young ladies who would never consider gardening to be “cool,” but just may find plenty of joy and fulfillment when they give it a try. It’s a great book for moms and daughters to read together, and then put to good use in a hobby that will develop wonderful generational bonds – the kind that used to exist before industrialization and mobility took over. It’s a good primer on basic gardening topics. If the hobby takes, next season you may want something a bit more advanced. Still, following the guidelines in the book will get any gal off to a great start.
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