Summer seems to finally have arrived! If you’re anything like me this warmer weather has you itching to be outside. What better way to enjoy the start of summer and soak up some rays than to be in the garden? Gardening has been proven to reduce stress and provides many physical benefits. Not to mention all of the wonderful food you can grow!
One of the major benefits of gardening is that anyone can do it, no matter the space available. If you live in an apartment try getting into container gardening. Have small children? Get them involved in growing their own food! Have you killed every plant you’ve ever had? Try starting out with succulents which take very little maintenance. There is a plant for everyone and every space. Luckily for you, the library has resources to get you started no matter your situation.
Container Vegetable Gardening
By Liz Dobbs
Available on Hoopla
Big Flavor from Small Spaces!
This book will show you how to use the latest practices of high-density patio gardening to grow delicious vegetables, herbs and fruits in containers, window boxes, and hanging baskets. Imagine the satisfaction of diving into a plate full of food that you grew yourself. Stepping out onto your patio and picking fresh ingredients for a meal is a special experience that is possible almost all year long. Whether you want to learn how to grow lemon trees in pots or to create your very own salsa window box with chilies, dwarf tomatoes, scallions, and coriander-Growing Crops in Pots will show you how!
Indoor Kitchen Gardening
By Elizabeth Millard
Available on Overdrive
Imagine serving a home-cooked meal highlighted with beet, arugula, and broccoli microgreens grown right in your kitchen, accompanied by sautéed winecap mushrooms grown in a box of sawdust in your basement. And if you have never tasted microgreens, all you really need to do is envision all the flavor of an entire vegetable plant concentrated into a single tantalizing seedling. If you respond to the notion of nourishing your guests with amazing, fresh, organic produce that you’ve grown in your own house, condo, apartment, basement, or sunny downtown office, then you’ll love exploring the expansive new world of growing and eating that can be discovered with the help of Indoor Kitchen Gardening. Inside, author and Bossy Acres CSA co-owner Elizabeth Millard teaches you how to grow microgreens, sprouts, herbs, mushrooms, tomatoes, peppers, and more—all inside your own home, where you won’t have to worry about seasonal changes or weather conditions.
Floret Farm’s Cut Flower Garden
By Erin Benzakein
Available on Hoopla
From Erin Benzakein, a leader in the locaflor farm-to-centerpiece movement and owner of internationally renowned Floret Flower Farm, Cut Flower Garden is equal parts instruction and inspiration-a book overflowing with lush photography of magnificent flowers and breathtaking arrangements organized by season. This beautiful guide to growing, harvesting, and arranging gorgeous blooms year-round gives readers vital tools to nurture a stunning flower garden and use their blossoms to create showstopping arrangements. With irresistible photos of Erin’s flower farm that showcase exquisite blooms, tips for growing in a variety of spaces and climates as well as step-by-step instructions for lavish garlands, airy centerpieces, and romantic floral décor for every season, Floret Farm’s Cut Flower Garden informs and entices gardeners of all skill levels.
Square Foot Gardening With Kids
By Mel Bartholomew
Available on Overdrive
For two generations, Mel Bartholomew’s top-selling Square Foot Gardening books have made his revolutionary system for growing vegetables available to millions of people. In Square Foot Gardening with Kids, Mel reveals all of the tips, tricks, and fun projects he has used over the decades in one of his most cherished pursuits: teaching youngsters to build and grow their own kid-sized SFGs. Because of its simple principles and fast payoff, Square Foot Gardening is perfect for children. The easy geometry of the gridded box breaks the complex world of gardening into digestible bites that are easy to approach and understand for enthusiastic young learners, and the sequence of tasks required to grow plants from seeds is repeatable and reassuring. Whether you’re a grandparent, parent, teacher, coach, or any kind of role model to young people, Square Foot Gardening with Kids offers you the proven methods Mel has developed himself to entertain and amaze the kid in all of us.
A Beginner’s Guide to Succulent Gardening
By Taku Furuya
Available on Hoopla
This book contains all sorts of helpful tips on what to look for when buying a plant, how to troubleshoot when your succulent shows signs of distress, how to trim the leaves and stems, and how to start new plants from cuttings. Clear diagrams and at-a-glance fact sheets for each variety, as well as inspirational photos of attractively and happily-housed succulents, fill the pages of this book. Now is the time to give succulents a try! Let A Beginner’s Guide to Succulent Gardening be your guide to get you started and grow your indoor garden one succulent at a time.
Growing the Midwest Garden
By Edward Lyon
Available on Hoopla
Plant selection and garden style are deeply influenced by where we are gardening. To successfully grow a range of beautiful ornamental plants, every gardener has to know the specifics of the region’s climate, soil, and geography. Growing the Midwest Garden, by Edward Lyon, the director of Wisconsin’s Allen Centennial Gardens, offers an enthusiastic and comprehensive approach to ornamental gardening in the heartland. This guide features in-depth chapters on climate, soil, pests, and maintenance, along with plant profiles of the best perennials, annuals, trees, shrubs, and bulbs.
