12 Must-Read Gardening Books to Help Your Garden Grow: Spring 2021
Don’t you just love spring?
The days are longer, warmer, brighter.
The earth starts to come alive again after a cold, bleak winter.
And your garden starts bursting with life again.
Now is the PERFECT time of year to dust off those gardening gloves, fetch that wheelbarrow, and of course, to add a new gardening book to your collection.
That’s why we’ve chosen our favourite gardening books below, to help you pick the best book for your garden. From veggies to hydrangeas, you’ll be able to grow whatever your heart (or stomach) desires.
Easily.
No hassle. No fuss.
Lots of the books we suggest below are great for beginners, or if you want to refresh the way you think about your garden.
Because your garden does more than just look pretty.
It’s a place for you to stretch your creative mind. To help cultivate and take care of endangered species.
It’s a place to experiment, to learn from, even to live off of (if growing veggies is your thing).
Ultimately though, your garden is there for you to enjoy. To relax in. A place to take a breather in, away from your hectic life. A place to find calm and peace and a bit of mental wellbeing.
With spring on the way, and with hope on the horizon of life returning to normal this summer, it’s the ideal time to grab one of the books below, and give your garden a bit of TLC.
Please note, the affiliate weblinks below direct you to view the title on our Bookshop.org page.
Whilst we do receive a small percentage of book sales from this site, we are completely independent businesses and are not involved with the ordering or delivery processes. Where possible, we’d encourage you to order directly through us (see bottom of the post for more details).
12 Must-Read Gardening Books to Help Your Garden Grow: Spring 2021
Books About Vegetable Gardens
Wouldn’t it be amazing if you could just walk out into the garden and pick the finest, freshest ingredients for your meals?
Sometimes, growing your own fruit and veg can seem intimidating.
Where do you even start?
Well, never fear, as we’ve got the perfect selection of books to help you reach your self-sufficient culinary ambitions with ease. You could say we’ve got the cream of the crop.
1. Veg in One Bed by Huw Richards
If you’re new to gardening, growing veg and working on allotments specifically, then you need to read this book! It’s got great, clear illustrations and instructions that’ll take you from seed to plate. With suggestions for veg that you can grow to harvest every month, this is a must-have addition to any gardener’s book collection. Fantastic for those of us that have small spaces to work with, too.
2. Allotment Month by Month by Alan Buckingham
Another brilliant book to add to your collection if you want to harvest every month of the year. Included are some superb in-depth crop planners, plus monthly alerts on what pests and diseases to keep an eye out for. Bonus: If you’ve ever wanted to make your own compost bin, this’ll give you the best step-by-step guide.
3. RHS Grow Your Own: Crops in Pots by Kay Maguire
Don’t you think that’s just the best title yet? Who wouldn’t want to grow their own crops in teeny tiny pots? Space-saving AND good on the ol’ purse strings. You’ll learn how to grow over 60 different vegetables, fruits, salads, herbs, and even edible flowers. And ALL just kept in containers. You won’t find any better tried-and-tested techniques anywhere else.
4. Grow Food for Free by Huw Richards
We can’t seem to get enough of Huw Richard’s work on this list, and for good reason! You know you’ll get all the best tips because he’s actually tried them himself. With the amazing goal of becoming self-sufficient for one year, Huw starts by growing his own fruit and veg.
Filled with practical advice that’s sure to get you eager to get outside, Grow Food for Free is your answer to zero-waste living, cost-free.
5. How to Grow Stuff by Alice Vincent
If you’re looking for a simple gardening book, one that tells you how to grow simple things, then there’s no better book than Alice Vincent’s How to Grow Stuff. For beginners that don’t know where to start, Vincent lays out how to start growing your own veg, simply.
Books About Rewilding
Rewilding has become more popular in recent years, and it’s more important than ever that people rewild their gardens to help their local wildlife thrive. Who wants a boring old lawn, anyways?
Invigorate your garden and bring new life into it with these marvellous books on rewilding.
And if you want to read more about our favourite nature books, check out our blogpost: 15 More of Our Favourite Nature Books.
6. Planting for Wildlife: A Grower’s Guide to Rewilding Your Garden by Jane Moore
This book isn’t out yet, but it’s definitely one to add to the wish list. Suburban gardens (with great expanses of pure lawn) take up so much of our space now, with little to no ecological significance.
If you want your garden to help the local wildlife, give it back to its roots: rewild it.
The perfect book for gardeners that want to take a more holistic approach to their gardening.
Help endangered species, foraging animals, and more JUST through rewilding your garden, and re-connect with the natural world.
Due out 20th May 2021, but you can pre-order now from The Book Nook.
7. Wild Your Garden: Create a Sanctuary for Nature by The Butterfly Brothers
The perfect book for if you want to join in the great rewilding movement. Boost local biodiversity, create safe havens for at-risk wildlife, all whilst lowering your carbon footprint.
Say goodbye to high-maintenance lawns, and say hello to a kinder space, one with purpose. One that’ll make the world a better place. That’s right, it’s called your garden IF you read this book.
Let The Butterfly Brothers help you to create your best garden ever.
Books About Windowsill Gardens
We know not everyone is lucky enough to have a garden. That’s why windowsill gardens are so great! They allow those green-fingered among us to still have that thrill of growing something new, but without the need for an actual garden. Windowsill gardens are the new, sublime way to reap all the benefits of a conventional garden, but within the constraints of modern housing.
8. The Windowsill Gardener by Annie Davidson
When you eat your avo-on-toast, what do you do with the seed? What if you had a book that taught you how to propagate it, and grow it on your windowsill, so that you could have your very own avocado tree?
With Annie Davidson’s NEW book, you’ll be able to do just that, and so much more. She’ll teach you the best plants to grow that’ll help you with sleep, clean the air, and most importantly, help with your mental wellbeing.
Plants are truly magical, but the sheer enjoyment from creating something from scratch, well, that’s even better.
9. Indoor Edible Garden by Zia Allaway
There’s always that idea that you need a lot of outdoor space to grow your own fruit and veg, or even a lot of indoor space for amazing plants. But you know what? That just isn’t the case, not anymore. With such inventive space-saving techniques, as well as how to get the most out of the light and even the ceilings in your home, Allaway proves that even those in the tiniest of spaces can enjoy their own thriving garden of delights. Turn your bland old windowsill into your best garden yet.
Books About Gardens That’ll Change Your Life
We can become so wrapped-up in our gardens, with all the technicalities and timetables, that perhaps sometimes we might forget that each garden holds a story. A story of love and tenderness, of coming back from the brink of a cold, harsh winter. Gardens are also a safe space to take care of our own mental wellbeing. To breathe. And with the books below, we hope you’ll discover how it can best help you find that moment of calm in a busy world.
10. RHS Your Wellbeing garden by Royal Horticultural Society, Professor Alistair Griffiths, Matthew Keightley, Annie Gatti and Zia Allaway
Have you ever wondered why you feel so relaxed after hearing the birds sing? Have you ever wondered if there’s a way your garden can help you with your mental health? In this wonderful book from the RHS, you’ll be able to create a space that’ll truly benefit your mind and body. You don’t even need a garden to feel the benefits of the outdoors. Scientific and practical, this book will change the way you think about your green space, for the better.
11. The Jewel Garden by Monty and Sarah Don
Gardener’s World fans may be acquainted with Longmeadow, though maybe not with the story of how Monty and Sarah Don came to be there. It’s not only the story about the garden that blooms from the muddy fields surrounding the Tudor property, but also the relationship that blossoms alongside it. The relationship between Monty and Sarah themselves. Monty even opens up about how their garden brought him back from the dark edge of depression.
If you’re a gardener, you’ll truly connect with this story; it’s one of perseverance, of trepidation, of turning darkness into something beautiful.
12. Rootbound: Rewilding a Life by Alice Vincent
The healing properties of surrounding yourself with plants has never been so well described as in Alice Vincent’s memoir, Rootbound. It’s her own life story, of how she found herself living out of a suitcase in her late twenties, to how she found solace in surrounding herself in greenery. Part memoir, part botanical history and biography, Alice Vincent’s Rootbound is the startling, beautiful account of finding your roots and growing towards the light, in a world of darkness.
What’s your favourite gardening book? What plans do you have for your outside space this year? I can’t wait to read Grow Food for Free by Huw Richards – I’m all up for inventive ways to save money! Let us know your favourite from the list above, or any books you’ve found helpful in previous years, over on our Book Nook Facebook page. We can’t wait to hear your favourites.
Like what you see? Here’s how to order:
You can order any of the books above from The Book Nook - even during lockdown! You can email us at info@booknookshop.co.uk, drop us a social media message or call us on 01920 467 597 during our non-contact opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday from 11am to 2pm.
Orders can either be collected at the door during our non-contact opening hours or can be delivered directly to your home (additional postage and packaging charge applies).
If you’d prefer to browse and shop online, please consider using our affiliate Bookshop.org page or by clicking on the links above to specific titles.
Please note, whilst a small percentage of the book sales from Bookshop.org are donated to The Book Nook, we are two independent businesses. The Book Nook will are not involved with the ordering or delivery of your Bookshop.org purchase. We’d therefore encourage you to order directly from us where possible!