bookshelf favorites & garden resources

Growing your garden library…aside from gardening, my other true love (some say, obsession), are books. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves line our walls, shelves bowing in the weight of seemingly endless cookbooks, classic literature, vintage finds and garden reference. But by far, it’s my garden section that is most dog-eared and battered. In the winter I curl up with my collection and dream green. In the summer, I tote various ones out to the garden for constant reference. 

Here are a few of my favorite gardening books in my library: 

Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte 

Medicinal Herbs by Rosemary Gladstar

Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health by Rosemary Gladstar

Four-Season Harvest by Eliiot Coleman

Mini Farming: Self-Sufficiency on 1/4 Acre by Brett L. Markham

Alchemy of Herbs by Rosalee De La Forêt

The Herbal Apothecary by JJ Pursell

The Rodale Herb Book 

The Herbal Handbook for Home & Health by Pip Walker

Peterson Field Guide to Medicinal Plants & Herbs

Homegrown Herbs by Tammi Hurting

Organic Body Care Recipes by Stephanie Tourles. 

Of course, there are many, many more great reads, but these are a great place to start.

Of course, there are more than plenty online resources for great growing info. I highly recommend checking out the cooperative extension programs of your local colleges/universities…they usually offer sites full of information for the home gardener and preserver.

University of Maine’s site is one of my first go-to sites being my home state: https://extension.umaine.edu

Cornell University offers a great bounty of information on their home gardening website: http://www.gardening.cornell.edu/homegardening/index.html

My alma mater, Penn State, extension website is a must-visit resource: https://extension.psu.edu/trees-lawns-and-landscaping/home-gardening

Johnny’s Selected Seeds offers a Grower’s Library full of valuable info: https://www.johnnyseeds.com/growers-library/growing-center.html

Mother Earth News’ organic gardening section: https://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening

And for those of you looking to take your herbal learnings to the next level, check out The Herbal Academy’s courses. I’ve completed the Intermediate Herbal Course over the period of two years and the lessons and learnings were so valuable: https://theherbalacademy.com

For my favorite seed sources, please visit my SEED SOURCE page.