“A book is a garden, an orchard, a storehouse, a party, a company by the way, a counselor, a multitude of counselors.”  

                                                                                       Charles Baudelaire

    Winter is the perfect season for reading and rereading gardening books.  It is usually during the winter months that gardeners plan out in their heads what they hope to accomplish in the other three season.  Garden books provide not only a wealth of information and ideas, but they also help recharge the gardeners spirit.

    I have several shelves that groan under the weight of all my gardening books.  These books run the gamut, from Annuals to Xeriscaping and various subjects in between.  The majority of these gardening books are how-to books.  How-to landscape, how-to raise veggies, how-to care for your lawn, and so on.  This makes sense, because gardening can be a very complex subject and there are always new things to be learned.  Much like life if you think about it.

    The best garden books, in my opinion, are the ones that are about the what and the why we garden.  Why do we put so much blood, sweat and (occasionally) tears into our gardens.  What drives us to garden and what do we get in return from gardening? Philosophical questions that I think most gardeners at one time or another have given serious thought to.  I’m sure that there are as many answers as there are gardeners.

     Below are a few gardening books that I heartily recommend because I believe they try to answer the what and the why (with some how-to included as well).  I have read each of these several times.  In some cases the spines are coming apart because I’ve reread them so much.

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The Garden in Autumn by Allen Lacy.  Allen Lacy was a professor of philosophy as well as a gardening columnist for the NY Times and Wall Street Journal.  While he wrote several worthwhile garden books in his lifetime, his Autumn in the Garden is my most favorite gardening book of all.

     Mr. Lacy explains the why we should focus more on autumn gardens.  The first chapter of his book discusses why autumn is the best garden season in the United States, and why it also tends to be the most overlooked.  This chapter alone is worth the price of the book.

     Mr. Lacy lived in southern New Jersey, a Zone 7 region, so some of his examples of autumn worthy plants might not work in other parts of the country.  Even so, with a little bit of research it is possible to find suitable replacements to enrichen any garden in this most glorious season.

      One Man’s Garden by Henry Mitchell.  Henry Mitchell lived and worked in the D.C. area, and for over 20 years was a garden columnist with the Washington Post.  The best of his columns were gathered up and published in three volumes: The Essential Earthman, Henry Mitchell on Gardening (posthumously) and my favorite, One Man’s Garden.

     Mr. Mitchell was a gardener of strong opinions, some of which I disagree with.  Nevertheless, what makes this book such a good read is how much joy Mr. Mitchell got out of gardening comes shining through.  Not that he was a know-it-all.  Far from it.  He liked to point out what the best way to gardening was, and how so very far away from that his own garden was.  He freely admitted to his mistakes, to his laziness and to his obsessions. In other words, he was just like most other gardeners.  But his insights about gardening and gardeners was spot on.

     The $64 Tomato by William Alexander.  William Alexander and his wife purchased a foreclosed and abandoned property in the Upper Hudson valley in New York (geez, what’s with all these gardeners/authors from the east) and began an arduous journey of trying to install and maintain a vegetable garden in his little corner of the world.  And yes, he did the math and determined that after all the man hours and supplies, each tomato he harvested from his garden worked out to $64.

     Entertaining and insightful, this book is a hilarious look at one man’s gardening obsessions and foibles.

      From the Ground Up by Amy Stewart.  Finally, a westerner.  After living in the city for many years, Amy Stewart and her husband moved into a house in Santa Cruz, Ca, right across from an amusement park.  Ms. Stewart had visions of a creating a gardener’s paradise, but she absolutely no gardening experience what-so-ever.  The next few seasons would humble her, and at the same time, strengthen her resolve.

     What makes Ms. Stewarts book so interesting is that as she works at establishing her garden she is at the same time trying to establish herself in her new community.  Funny and quirky, all gardeners will be able to relate to her gardening growing pains.

Epilogue:

     Hope you enjoyed this post.  Comments, book recommendations and writing tips are always welcome.  If you don’t wish to post comments on this site, feel free to email me at:  Mrvintageman2@gmail.com.