Come by the library this Saturday, April 22 to celebrate Earth Day with a seed starting workshop and the kickoff for Montclair’s new Seed Lending Library, then check out some of these gardening books from the practical to the philosophical to help you grow your garden!
P.S. – Need some tools to get started with your garden? Borrow everything from shovels to chain saws from the amazing OPL Tool Lending Library!
Saving Vegetable Seeds: Harvest, Clean, Store, and Plant Seeds From Your Garden by Fern Marshall Bradley
“This illustrated, step-by-step guide shows you how to save seeds from 20 of the most popular vegetable garden plants, including beans, carrots, peas, peppers, and tomatoes. You’ll learn how each plant is pollinated (key to determining how the seed should be saved), how to select the seeds to collect, and how to process and store collected seeds.”
The New Seed Starters Handbook by Nancy Bubel
“This easy-to-use reference explains everything you need to know to start seeds and raise healthy seedlings successfully.”
Golden Gate Gardening: The Complete Guide to Year-round Food Gardening in the San Francisco Bay Area and Coastal California by Pam Peirce
“The bible of vegetable gardening in the San Francisco Bay Area…with more than 400 pages of reliable information [about] gardening principles and practices specific to the Bay Area and the Northern California coast.”
The First-time Gardener: Growing Vegetables by Jessica Sowards
“Not only will you learn how to prepare, plant, and tend your first vegetable garden, you’ll also learn how to design an eco-friendly layout, how to grow with the seasons, and how to maximize your harvest, even if you only grow in a small space.”
The Comic Book Guide to Growing Food: Step-by-step Vegetable Gardening for Everyone by Joseph Tychonievich
“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.”
Grow. Food. Anywhere.: The New Guide to Small-space Gardening by Mat Pember
“Whether you’ve got a balcony, a tiny courtyard or a patch of reclaimed dirt in a shared neighborhood space, this book offers inspiration – and instruction – for growing good things to eat. Grow. Food. Anywhere. is presented with a combination of photographs, illustrations, and a playful, engaging design that very much mirrors the refreshing no-nonsense approach of the book’s two accomplished and articulate young authors, and their thriving gardening business.”
Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening by Louise Riotte
“This classic has now taught generations of gardeners how to use the natural benefits of plants to protect and support each other. Here is a reader’s complete reference to which plants nourish the soil, which keep away bugs and pests, and which plants just don’t get along.”
The 20-minute Gardener: New Hope for the Horticulturally Challenged by Thomas Christopher
“A funny, user-friendly guide for gardeners on a time budget offers simple, organic techniques and inexpensive twenty-minute projects, from choosing the simplest plants to getting rid of pests with peanut butter. Discusses low-maintenance organic gardening techniques, including which plants to choose, designing the garden, and how to get rid of pests, all in 20 minutes a day.”
Grow Cook Eat: A Food Lover’s Guide to Vegetable Gardening, Including 50 Recipes, Plus Harvesting and Storage Tips by Willi Galloway
“Presents a guide to growing and harvesting a variety of vegetables and herbs, with advice on storage and preparation techniques and recipes for vegetable dishes.”
How to Become a Gardener: Find Empowerment in Creating Your Own Food Security by Ashlie Thomas
“Author, health coach and food security advocate Ashlie Thomas of The Mocha Gardener (@the.mocha.gardener) serves as an experienced and encouraging guide on your journey toward self-empowerment through the cultivation of your own homegrown harvests. With a spirit of respect for others, for nature and for community, Ashlie walks you step by step through not only the practical ins and outs of gardening–from seed starting to making the harvest–but also through the personal challenges and lessons found within the act of gardening itself.”
American Grown by Michelle Obama
“This book is the story of the White House garden started and cultivated by Michelle Obama. While a lot of the book deals with her own personal fears around being a novice gardener (which many of us can relate to) there are also quite a few practical tips and tricks for those just getting into gardening who want to learn more.” –BookRiot
How to Grow: Nurture Your Garden, Nurture Yourself by Marcus Bridgewater
“A transformative guide to growth anchored in lessons from plants that helps readers garden the soul as well as the soil from TikTok gardener Marcus Bridgewater.”
Friends of Montclair Library 