This weekend is National Gardening Day and the weather is set to improve, so it’s time to get your garden ready for Summer. Our 7 Gardening Books have something for everyone, from children to amateur gardeners and those who just need some inspiration. Happy Gardening!
The Gardener’s Almanac – Alan Titchmarsh
We couldn’t have a list of Garden Books without including one from National treasure and presenter of ITV’s hugely popular Love Your Garden, Alan Titchmarsh.
In The Gardener’s Almanac, Titchmarsh brings us his month by month almanac of garden knowledge, facts, advice and inspiration.
Here is seasonal advice on what to grow and sow, projects to engage in, as well as wildlife to spot, gorgeous gardens to visit, birds and flowers to celebrate, weather notes, and nature to reflect on in poems, music, and books.
A beautifully packaged gift book with illustrations by Alan himself.
You Can Grow Your Own Food – Annabelle Padwick
The ideal gift to help kids learn brilliant new hobbies
Get muddy, get green fingers and get growing!
The how-to book for kids who love gardening. It’s easy to understand and tells them exactly what they need to know step-by-step.
- Easy-peasy tips on how to grow all kinds of fruit, vegetables and herbs outside and indoors
- Space to scribble – make notes, keep track of what they have planted and make the book their own
- Packed with fun gardening activities guaranteed to get their hands dirty!
Kids can try lots of brilliant stuff with the fun You Can series from Collins – write awesome stories, draw brilliant pictures, grow your own food, take amazing photos, have an outdoor adventure, save the planet – there’s something for everyone!
Gardening for Mindfulness – Holly Farrell
Gardening, like mindfulness, is a way of finding a sense of calm in an otherwise chaotic world, a simpler existence, even if it is only for a few minutes. Both forge a connection to the world around us, to nature and wildlife, which can bring pleasure and peace. In this beautifully illustrated guide to gardening for mindfulness, horticulturalist and mindfulness practitioner Holly Farrell provides a blueprint for a more contemplative way to garden, including projects, meditations and inspiration.
Projects for the mindful gardener, including growing something from seed, planting a tree and creating a mandala, put the theory of mindfulness into practice, while plant lists and design ideas aim to enhance mindfulness in the garden through the senses.
Easy to follow and beautifully packaged in a new format, this is the perfect book for keen gardeners, devotees of mindfulness, or simply those looking for calm in a busy and hectic world.
The Curious Gardener – Anna Pavord
In The Curious Gardener, Anna Pavord brings together in 12 chapters – one from each month of the year – 72 pieces on all aspects of gardening.
From what to do in each month and how to get the best from flowers, plants, herbs, fruit and vegetables, through reflections on the weather, soil, the English landscape and favourite old gardening clothes, to office greenery, spring in New York, waterfalls, Derek Jarman and garden design, Anna Pavord always has something interesting to say and says it with great style and candour.
The perfect book to guide you through the gardening year and, on days when the weather keeps the most courageous gardener indoors, the perfect book to curl up with beside the fire.
The Flower Yard – Arthur Parkinson
Arthur Parkinson’s town garden is like a path of pots, a tiny, exposed stage on bricks. Despite its small size, a flower-filled jungle in Venetian tones is grown here each year, in defiance of urbanisation. The plants act like drapes, closing gently as their growth engulfs the front door, from either side of the path, to the buzz of precious bees.
This is gardening done entirely in pots, yet on a grand scale that will inspire anyone who wants their doorstep or patio to be a glamorous and lively canvas that nurtures them visually and mentally. From jewel scatterings of crocus, flocks of parrot tulips and scented sweet peas to galaxies of single dahlias, towering giraffes of amaryllises grown inside for winter and endless vases of cut blooms through the seasons.
With his bantam hens at his feet, Arthur shares his life, knowledge, flair and influences for planting creatively, all of which combine to create a space that’s rich in ever-changing colour and life.
Spend a year with Monty Don. My Garden World is a celebration of every living creature and the natural world that we all share. Recent times have given us the enforced opportunity to learn more about the fascinating natural world around us. Whether you live in the countryside or the town, Monty’s observations and insights are relevant to each and every one of us. My Garden World is Monty Don’s personal journey through the natural year, month by month, season by season, observed from the immediate world around him.
‘Wildlife is not something that we watch happening in remote and exotic parts of the world on our screens, but right here in our own back yards and the more that we encourage it and learn to live with it, the more rewarding it becomes.
If, in our own modest back yards, we can help preserve and treasure our natural world then we will make the world a better place — not just for ourselves but for every living creature.’
The Modern Gardener – Sonya Patel Ellis
Welcome to modern matchmaking – for plants! All you need to do is be honest about what you can invest into your plant relationship (attentiveness, experience … sunlight) and voila – The Modern Gardener will suggest the best matched plant partner for you.
Nothing livens up a room, windowsill or small yard like the presence of leafy Swiss cheese plants, angular succulents, perennial peonies or your own little herb garden. And this comprehensive reference book starts by covering all the best types of plants and planting for every type of indoor room, patio and balcony – from decorative and beneficial, low maintenance or useful edible plants – you’ll find everything you need to know about how to find the perfect plants for you and your lifestyle, and how help them to thrive.
The second half of the book – the Personal Plant Selector – features an extensive directory of over 100 plants, in which you will be introduced to each species and their characteristics, benefits and needs, including quick facts on potting and repotting, correct care and more.
This beautifully designed encyclopedia of plants also includes a comprehensive index and a cross-referencing system, to make it easy to find information quickly. It’s the ultimate guide to your personal plant kingdom.