22 Gardening Books to Grow Your Green Thumb

From construction to planting to care, this all-in-one manual teaches you everything you need to know about raised bed gardening—even if you have minimal space to work with. This guide also includes tips for raising 30 beginner-friendly plants, so you can start eating your home-grown herbs and vegetables in no time.

No green thumb? No problem. Zen gardens are even more relaxing that traditional gardens, as you'll learn in this guide that goes over the philosophy and aesthetic principles of Japanese rock gardens. From traditional to contemporary, these peaceful, minimalist spaces are the ideal retreat.

Looking for a book that will give you “all the tools to plan a productive garden before seeds ever meet the ground” (Wall Street Journal)? 

Then you need look no further than this indispensable volume packed with themed garden design ideas, well-worn planting and growing advice, and more than 100 seasonal recipes so that you can cook and enjoy some of the delicious vegetables that you’ll be growing in no time in your new garden!

Jinny Blom has designed more than 250 gardens all over the world, and in this "detailed and richly illustrated account of how one of the UK’s leading practitioners approaches the art of garden design" (Gardens Illustrated) she shares the benefits of her years of experience with readers of all levels of skill and commitment. 

After all, you don’t have to be a professional gardener to thoughtfully incorporate some beauty and nature into your day-to-day life!

We live in the age of big corporate farms and the days of making an income as a small-scale gardener are behind us… or are they? 

In this “visionary and practical” (Charles Herve-Gruyer, permaculture teacher and grower) book, Jean-Martin Fortier takes readers through the tricks and secrets that he and his partner have developed to grow their 1.5 acre garden into a thriving business that feeds over 200 families using low-tech, high-yield methods to grow better not bigger.

“It is bold, it is courageous, and it challenges many of our preconceptions about food, about soils, about farming, and about health,” raves Michael Ableman, author of Farm the City, about this exciting guide to growing nutrient-dense food by replenishing the essential minerals that have been stripped from soil through generations of mismanagement and excessive agriculture. 

Complete with step-by-step guides and customizable web-based spreadsheets, this indispensable guide demystifies the process of replenishing the soil for gardeners on any scale and of any skill level.

In a memoir of one growing season in Iowa, Carl H. Klaus explores much more than just what he is planting and growing in his garden. He touches upon the ways food has influenced his own life, and on the ways that his life impacts what and how he gardens, and vice versa. 

It is a “delightful” (Publishers Weekly), poignant, sometimes powerful book about the mark we leave on the world, and the marks it leaves on us, and how growing something out of the dirt can change us and help to ground us, no matter what may be going on in the rest of our lives.

A Books for Wiser Living recommendation from Mother Earth News, Heal Local emphasizes ways to integrate local and traditional medicine into our lives without abandoning our doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies. 

Instead, the two can work together and we can use the same techniques that encourage us to shop local for produce and other foods to help readers create a home apothecary filled with herbs that can help with everyday first aid while growing our communities and benefitting our environment.

A beautifully designed garden is a balm for the spirit and the mind, but designing a garden takes a lot more than just deciding what to plant and where. In Elements of Garden Design, author Joe Eck examines the design of a garden holistically, providing ideas, tips, and down-to-earth advice that can be used by gardeners at every level. 

Even the casual gardener can benefit from Eck’s ideas for how to plan and execute a garden whose design is beautiful, functional, and useful, not to mention tips on how to create gardens that are child- and pet-friendly.

“The crisp photographs, lushly painted illustrations, and delicious text” in this one-of-a-kind book “lead the reader from the garden to the kitchen and pantry with anticipation of culinary delight” (Darrell E. Frey, author of Bioshelter Market Garden). 

Written by and for foodies who want to know where their food is coming from, The Food Lover’s Garden gives a practical guide to growing more than 20 of the most popular vegetables and herbs in your own garden, and how to turn those healthy plants into delicious meals for your whole family to enjoy.

One part memoir, one part gardening guide, one part cookbook, there is nothing else quite like David Jensen’s The Garden Interior. This book not only traces the impact of a garden on a family, but also explores the thoughts and feelings of a gardener, while showcasing one garden throughout the seasons, and featuring mouth-watering recipes and tips that can help improve your gardening, whether you’re growing for food, for fun, or for profit. 

“Brimming with expertise and commentary and leavened with quirky humor, endearing humility, and a sense of wonder” (Philadelphia Inquirer), the result is a gardening book like no other.

Growing a garden is about more than just planting seeds and pulling weeds – or, it can be, with the help of this book that’s “a must-have for any gardening library” (Gardeners World). 

In it, author Kate Bradbury shows how you can transform your garden into a habitat that attracts birds, bees, and other wildlife, including organic methods of pest control, do's and dont's of feeding the birds, and projects that can create habitats to help encourage the wildlife of your choosing, from bumblebee nesters to hedgehog boxes and more.

Herbs are used to flavor foods, obviously, but they’ve also been used for their medicinal properties for centuries. In this book, which is illustrated throughout with photographs to help you identify and understand your herbs, Gordon Thorburn lists all the various kinds of herbs you might grow, how much effort and care each one needs, as well as any warnings or other information you might need to know. 

Herbs are broken out by their uses, including herbs used for flavoring meals, herbs with medicinal properties, and those that can help attract pollinators to the rest of your garden.

A winner of the World Federation of Roses Literary Award, this “fascinating and informative book” (American Gardener) takes an environmentally friendly look at the growth and cultivation of roses, from some of the leading experts on the subject from around the world. 

Notoriously high-maintenance in the past, this indispensable book shows how rose gardens can be grown in a way that is low-impact without sacrificing the beauty or drama of these beloved flowers. “Nothing about sustainable rose culture has been presented as well as it has been in this book” (Pacific Horticulture Society).

“Aren’t all gardens vegan?” you might ask. And author Matthew Appleby is here to answer with this book about “veganic” gardening, which shows you how to grow almost any kind of garden without animal inputs or harmful pesticides that can damage the environment and the ecosystem. 

Whether you’re concerned about the environmental footprint of your garden or just want to make sure that you’re eating the healthiest possible food, there are tips here to help you grow your garden in a sustainable, natural, healthy way that has received the seal of approval of the Vegan Organic Network and Garden Organic.

“A gentle, practical and inspiring guide to help transform your yard into a diverse, healthy and sustainable landscape.” That’s how Myrna Pearman, coauthor of NatureScape Alberta, describes this hands-on book filled with ways to help transform a simple yard into a rich and vibrant natural landscape. 

From the smallest yard to the most sprawling garden, Eco-yards gives insights into how to make your lawn water-wise, growing vegetables right in your yard, and understanding the basics of soil science, so that you can transform your lawn into something that your family will be proud of.

Many of us grow gardens because we want to. We take pleasure in the soil, and in watching and tending our crops, whether they be flowers, herbs, or vegetables. Steve Solomon’s book tackles the idea of gardening for another reason – out of necessity. 

Which is not to say that there isn’t joy and wisdom in Gardening When It Counts, but the focus here is on how to create a garden that can more than pay for itself by decreasing your family’s food costs, with a minimum outlay on your part, and using only a few hand tools to cultivate the land.

Flowers are beautiful to look at, but many of them smell just as good – or even better! 

In this lavishly illustrated book, featuring numerous botanical photographs by award-winner Ellen Hovenkamp, Ken Druse arranges a number of flowers, shrubs, trees, and other plants into twelve categories, grouped by scent. From there, she helps you to understand how to design, grow, and maintain a garden that is as delightful to the nose as it is to the eye.

Not all gardens are outdoors. Whether you’re a city dweller without a yard of your own or just someone who doesn’t have the time, inclination, or green thumb for extensive gardening, household plants are a way to freshen up our living spaces and still enjoy a little touch of greenery in our everyday lives. 

And with this handy little guide to growing more than 30 of the most popular houseplants, complete with beautiful illustrations, you, too, can fill your home with new, green pals in no time!

Houseplants aren’t limited to just the kinds of little flowers and succulents in pots that you might think. In this “real eye-opener” of a book (Phillip Adcock, author of Master Your Brain), D.J. Herda takes readers through not only the techniques for growing large plants indoors, but the many benefits they can add to your home and your health. 

The fact is, indoor air quality is often poor, and we are always making new strides in how to improve it. But one of the best methods is as old as time, and that’s by adding plants. Trees and shrubs grown indoors can help improve your air quality while also making dramatic centerpieces for your home décor.

Greenhouses. We’ve all seen them, those big, beautiful glassed-in buildings filled with exotic plants. Maybe we’ve dreamed of someday having one of our own. While many of us may not be able to afford—or maintain—a full-size greenhouse, this book by Maria Colletti walks us through how to create the next best thing: a miniature garden under glass in the form of a terrarium. 

With more than 20 stylish designs for modern mini-gardens, Terrariums: Gardens Under Glass introduces gardeners of all skill levels to the idea of gardening in miniature by creating tiny landscapes indoors.

A “cogent, well-sourced and ambitious analysis of the slow decline of cannabis prohibition in the United States” (Kirkus Reviews), this book by two award-winning journalists chronicles the transition of marijuana from a demonized “gateway drug” through propaganda films such as Reefer Madness to landmark laws in states such as Colorado and Washington, to the present day, where cannabis is legal for either medical or personal use in many states, even while nearly half of all drug-related arrests involve the sale, manufacture, or possession of cannabis in some form. 

Even as cannabis remains illegal in some states, it is big business in others, as cannabis growers and CBD shops spread across the country – and this book will show it all to you in a whole new light.